video: "Jane Cum" - Japanese Breakfast
words: Jordan Gorsuch
The video for "Jane Cum" possesses the charge of a mystical, spiritual awakening. Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner and her trio of darkly-dressed coven companions go for a jaunt in a beautiful, gothic-inspired forest to recover artifacts for a ritual.
The cinematography is said to be inspired by HBO's True Detective, but the shots of the vintage Volvo and focus on tall-grass and clothing reminded me of last year's incredible horror film, It Follows. The video serves as a dark, mysterious companion piece to one of the more foreboding tracks on this year's superb Psychopomp.
"Full force through the high beams I was rushing from Phantom pain, sweat away our clothes," Zauner sings with a spectral falsetto. The fog whips around Zauner as she dons a black witch hat and sits like a Siren in front of the Volvo's headlights. "Jane Cum, you swallow me whole," she sings over a triumphant orchestral swell, cast in hot white light. If the abyss sounds anything like Zauner's sterling track (and enchanting video), I'm all for it.