formally a strictly-improvisational band, the shoe, fronted by jena malone and lem jay ignacio, have just released the video to their poeticized lullaby-esque track, “dead rabbit hopes”, which is off of their upcoming album, “i’m okay”. i had already heard that this album would be a collection of more fine-tuned songs, while still holding true to their loose, experimental vision as a band, but upon listening to this track, somehow my heart exploded into a billion stars, massively surpassing what i had initially hoped for. the simplistic tonal structure doesn’t smother the sincere lyrics, for example: “i never knew the way you looked at me i’d be this kind of gal this kind of woman that only sees when she is free“, that malone effortlessly coos from within.

now, if possible, momentarily forget about the musical stylings of this “love spell”, to focus entirely on the honeysuckle cinematography, which was birthed at the hands of alia penner, who you can find on instagram under “alia_pop“. penner is a superbly colourful artist, who managed to capture exactly what the shoe wanted to depict through their song, as malone explained her vision:

“I wanted to talk about a woman’s beauty and sexuality in a way that felt very different from our highly manipulated and sexualized world. I actually wanted to desexualize my own naked body while upholding its own perfect eternal grace. I didn’t want it to be about lingerie or booty shorts. I wanted it to be about the work of art that you are born with.” (sourced from stereogum).

so if you’re into the beauty of the body, effervescent film, and the charming lyrics that are so sweetly pronounced in this neat little package, you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for the shoe’s upcoming work, including the release of their full length album, “i’m okay“, in early june.

* http://www.stereogum.com/1673338/the-shoe-dead-rabbit-hopes-video-nsfw-stereogum-premiere/video/ *