If you were at all freaked out by The Ring, you probably don’t (or maybe you do) want to watch the new video from Zola Jesus.
The American electronic singer is gearing up the release of her new project, Okovi, which will drop on September 8. To kick things off, she decides to premiere the video for her first single ”Exhumed,” and you probably don’t want to watch it in a dark room. The video is entirely in black and white, and shows various grainy and distorted images of a resurrected (and somewhat faceless) woman in white in the woods as she stares ominously at the camera and crawls around the ground in a rather distorted manner.
The haunting new track was deeply rooted in personal experiences, says the video director Jacqueline Castle. “’Exhumed’ was personally conceived of and created whilst processing death—of family members and of relationships—and much like Okovi’s core themes, it is a reflection on loss, heritage, and the often painful personal growth we must harness in the face of life’s constant evolution.”
According to Castel, the filming and production of the video lent itself to several of the themes of the song. “Shot intimately in one day, in the exhausting heat within the woods surrounding Nika’s Wisconsin home, we sought to capture personal apocalypse, utilizing experimental shooting techniques to further our emotional goals. Practically and metaphorically, we fought to find the light in the darkest of forests.”
In addition to the new Okovi, Zola Jesus will drop the Stridulum LP—a compilation of the previously released Stridulum and Valusia EP’s. She also released the song “Soak,” a few weeks back. Check out the video at your own risk below.
Photo Credit: Pamela Lin