Thelma’s self-titled debut LP has been out in the world for more than a year now. The collection of seven songs, which we included in last March’s roundup of the best albums of the month, circle around the premise of projection, as she grapples with the self that others project on her and the fantastical self she projects, too. “If You Let It” is a mystical and brooding track that signifies both closure and departure, and we’re premiering the music video for it here today.
Like some of Thelma’s other simmering tracks and accompanying videos, this one matches the song’s orphic mood, with strange and hypnotic visuals that sway and stagger along with singer Natasha Jacobs’ lilting (and sometimes screeching) vocals. It’s described precisely by director Tara Bayat as a “dreamy cabaret of sorts.” About the music video, Natasha said:
I really enjoyed creating a visual world around this record, so now that the record is a year old this video feels like a finale, a tying of the knot. It’s an appropriate time for departure as I’m about to finish the next record and am planning new imagery around it.
It was filmed outside my family’s cabin in Monticello, NY, on a stage my parents built to get married on. My album cover was also shot on the pond there. The house is currently up for sale, so I really wanted to memorialize it. I feel so lucky to have gotten everyone involved together for this project. It was seriously a dream team for me. The two main characters, Matia Emsellem and Shannon Brooks, are both artists I’ve admired for a long time, so I was ecstatic to have them in the video. Tara Bayat, the director is so brilliant and really feels her work in such a beautiful way. She even learned some of the choreography and was moving behind the camera to help keep the energy up. Her focus was just incredible and the collaboration between her and Adam Kolodny, the cinematographer felt so fluid. We shot it all in one night and stayed up till dawn, finishing literally right as the sun came up.
Originally, I didn’t want to be in the video. I’m very camera shy so even taking this background role was a challenge, but it was fun to play a fictional character in my own band. None of the other people in the band in the video are actually in my band.
Watch the video for “If You Let It” above. You can find and order Thelma here.
