Back in March, Natasha Jacobs’ avant-garde folk project Thelma released its sprightly debut self-titled LP which was a seriously strong entrance into the music scene — it was #23 on our list of best albums of 2017 thus far. Jacobs experiments with a wooly new sound that feels a little bit Joanna Newsom, a little bit punk, and a little bit of something else entirely. She’s already released videos for both “Peach” and “White Couches,” two singles her self-titled debut, and today has shared another visual for “Spool.”
The video, created by Jacobs’ friend Shannon Lynn Brooks, feels like a psychedelic journey through the mind of someone grappling with feelings of pure joy, hysteria, delirium, and maybe even a little bit of villainy all at the same time. These feelings are represented visually through feverish, almost maniacal fits of laughing throughout the video. Between scattered guitar plucks and all kinds of other uncommon sounds, including one of Jacobs’ playful screeches towards the end, the video feels like the perfect parallel for the emotionally wrought, yet still fun track.
On the video, creator Brooks disclosed “When listening to this song I began to make the most absurd faces.” To her, the video for “Spool” feels like “an experiment testing the intersection between discomfort and hysterical laughing.”
Check out our interview with Thelma on the songwriting behind writing Thelma, her time in the DIY scene, and her experience as a mostly self-taught multi-instrumentalist here and watch the video above.
Thelma is out now via Tiny Engines.
