Chelsea Wolfe has shared the video for her new track Anhedonia, featuring vocals and guitar by labelmate Emma Ruth Rundle.
Joining forces with stop-motion artist Cressa Beer, the video was inspired by the feelings that arose for Beer during quarantine, and artistically explores their journey from trauma into recovery via the symbolic lifecycle of a moth.
Floating between ghostly frames of performances by Wolfe and Rundle, the video’s imagery creates an introspective visual depiction of disassociation, loneliness and healing.
Beer says: “The core idea of the video came from an artist and mutual friend that Chelsea and I both love — Jess Schnabel — who created a ‘grief moth’ inspired by real moths that drink the tears of sleeping birds.
“It’s an idea I’ve wanted to animate for a while. So, that became the backbone of the project: the lifecycle of a moth literally born from overwhelming sadness. From there, the video grew into a reflection of what I was experiencing during quarantine, as I found myself confronting my own grief and deeply rooted trauma.
“I suffer from PTSD that envelops me like a black void. I wanted to visually articulate how that feels, as well as feelings like disassociation and loneliness; the way that trauma can physically alter your body and mentally reshape the world around you."
"But still, the moth can fight its way out, can fly, can follow the light; just like the comfort in the final verse of the song, I wanted to still show that healing is possible.”
Watch the full video below.
