Singer-songwriter and performance artist Jehnny Beth is back with a brand new single and video from her upcoming record You Heartbreaker, You. The track is distorted and hypnotic, led by a tangled mess of synths and a chorus which drills its way into your head. The final product evokes Nine Inch Nails in the way it couches industrial and dance aesthetics in equal measure. 

For as unnerving and intriguing as the song is, it is the accompanying video which truly leaves an impression. Viewers are treated to a constantly shifting series of visuals equal parts hedonistic revelry and abject body horror. One shot morphs into the next in a way which is supremely disorienting and conjures teenage memories of drinking too much cough syrup. The cycling dance rhythms which undergird the track as well as the sporadic shots of partying and clubbing really enhance the feeling of ‘nightmare k-hole’ which this video brings on. 

With this single, Jehnny Beth proves herself to be a real autere and multi-disciplinarian. Clearly she is aware of the way she is able to combine these aspects of her artmaking process as she said of the song, “One moment we were recording in the studio, the next we were taking pictures, or making a t-shirt, one always informing the other. For the No Good For People video we explored this idea of the double, how we can be two-faced sometimes, or want to hide our ugly side.” If this is what comes of Beth exploring her ugly side, then she is just the latest in a long series of artists to prove that there is quite a lot of beauty to be found in the abject. 

Check out the new track here:

 Photo Credit: Nicole Ditt