Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00

La Dispute, 'Woman (Reading)'

Rooms Of The House is an album based on what we leave behind, and what it means when new bodies and new emotions inhabit those places. It's a lofty concept executed with care by La Dispute, whose members are no strangers to poetic post-hardcore. It all comes to a head in "Woman (Reading)" and vocalist Jordan Dreyer's stark, lyrical climax: "Sometimes I think of all the people that lived here before us; how the spaces in the memories you make change your room from just blueprints to the place where you live."

In this video for "Woman (Reading)," director Niall Coffey takes us out of the house and across various locations in London with dancer Julie Ann Minaai. Her movements are desperate and purposeful, shot around empty parking lots, libraries, forests, rooftops and crowded sidewalks. But no matter how often the location changes, the dance is seamless. Here's Coffey:

We wanted to make something that was visually engaging, but also helped support the themes of the song. Julie represents the common ground we share between space and time. She remains a point of continuity, even when surrounded by drastic change. Using a one-point-perspective technique inspired by Stanley Kubrick, we were able to change her surroundings while maintaining a focus on the dance.

Rooms Of The House is out now on Better Living.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Listen to the Viking's Choice playlist, subscribe to the newsletter.