Flock of Dimes, the project of Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner, has shared the official music video for her single “Hard Way,” which was directed by Lachlan Turczan. Filming the video in Joshua Tree, CA, Wasner stands as Turczan experiments with light, having it flicker across her face.

Wasner’s voice plucks through the instrumentals, harmonizing with herself as high-pitched guitars raggedly strum along. The simple keyboards lend a heaviness to her lyrics, Wanger singing, “If I lost your hand/I knew I could stand/Without your protection/Just because I know/Doesn’t mean I’ll go/It would be the hard way.”

Slats of light dance over her face throughout the video, which had been filmed “outside in the freezing dark on a windy winter’s night.” They slide over her, creating a pulsating visual as they create distortions within Wagner’s face.

“Although I didn’t fully understand when I wrote it, this song is an example of the power of the subconscious mind to hide truths from ourselves that we’re not yet ready to see,” Wasner said in a press statement. “When I wrote this song I was still in the throes of new love, and I thought I was writing a straightforward, earnest love song. But when I tried to record it, something about the tone of it was eerie, strange, a bit darker than I would have expected. It wasn’t until long after I wrote it that I became aware of its odd foreshadowing of what was to come – that something I intended to be bright and hopeful in the moment was floating on top of a deep current of unease.”

The track comes off of Flock of Dime’s upcoming album, Head of Roses. Previously released singles from the album include “Two” and “Price of Blue.” The upcoming album follows Flock of Dime’s 2020 release, Like so Much Desire. As Flock of Dimes, Wasner also participated in The Joni Project, which included contributions from Margo Price, Taylor Goldsmith and others as well.

Photo credit: Sharon Alagna