Half Waif is gearing up for the release of her forthcoming album ‘Mythopoetics’, scheduled to land July 9th on ANTI- Records. The record follows her 2020 LP The Caretaker.
To coincide with the announcement, Half Waif has also shared the video for her latest single ‘Swimmer’. Directed by Kenna Hynes, the visuals depict her as a motorcycle riding warrior who ends up engaging in battle before bringing a flower to an elderly woman who eventually transforms in to a ray of light.
Touching on the single, Half Waif mentioned:
“I wrote ‘Swimmer’ after visiting my aunt, who has Alzheimer’s. I’ll never forget the summer we were swimming at the lake where our family has a cabin – her mind was already slipping, but her body was still strong enough to swim across to the other side. It was incredible, how both things could be true. Now the only way I can reach her is through music. I sing for her with my hand on her shoulder, feeling the soft weight of her body through the blanket, pouring all of the love I have from my voice into that warm arm. I try to reconcile what is still here with what has already gone.”
In regards to the video, she said:
“The idea for the music video came to me while I was recording ‘Swimmer’: a motorcycle chase, a quest to find a magic flower, and then the final scene where the flower is laid at the feet of an old woman, who bursts into light and is set free. I’ve always loved fantasy, the way it can capture the most poignant human emotions even when wildly surreal things are happening. When I brought the idea to Kenna, it set us on a journey to create a four-part music video series that develops the story further, starting with the first single ‘Orange Blossoms’ – in which the elf princess is woken from a kind of catatonic state and inspired to go outside to plant a golden seed – and ending with ‘Swimmer’ – when the princess (now a motorcycle-riding warrior, after being spurned one too many times from one too many parties) retrieves the golden flower and returns to her castle to set her future self free. We filmed the castle scene at the property where my aunt lives, and the older version of me was played by my mom, which made it all the more meaningful. It’s a kind of personal mythology.”