American violinist, songwriter and dancer Lindsey Stirling has released a new music video for her song “Masquerade” off her most recent studio album titled Artemis. The video is inspired by the early 20th century silent film genre and was recorded at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. The production was co-directed by the musician and Stephen Mallett.

The piece itself highlights the intricacy and precision in Stirling’s violin playing with a high energy, yet tense, melodic pattern that seems to reflect the stress of preparing a stage performance.

She spends the video dancing about the stage in silly masquerade performance-type attire with a chorus of backup dancers who are also outfitted in large costumes and tall wigs. The video begins and ends in black-and-white, with “dialogue” represented by white cutscenes that display typed out words. The dance is sharp and specific, each dancer matching each other’s rhythm as well emotion as they tell a story with their bodies. At the end of the video, the dancers are shown passed out from exhaustion in the auditorium seats.

About the song, Stirling said, “While I was writing the song ‘Masquerade,’ I knew immediately that it would be about a wealthy over-the-top aristocratic woman. The song has such a comedic feel to it, which made the music video really, really fun to plan and make.”

The violinist is launching her cross-country Artemis U.S. Tour this Saturday, July 3, with a show in Kansas City, MO. The tour will run through September 10 and will mark the first time she will perform tracks from Artemis for live audiences. Tickets and tour dates can be found here.

Artemis was first released in September 2019 with BMG as a 13-track studio album. Featured singles include “The Upside,” “Underground” and “Til the Light Goes Out.” More details and available music bundles can be found here.

Photo credit: Mehreen Rizvi