It's not every music video that can extract pathos from one of those inflatable flailing tube mascots, but Common Holly's "Central Booking" video does just that. The Montreal singer-songwriter, who made waves in 2017 with her self-released project Playing House, opens her searing-yet-threadbare new track with lyrics that top any horror movie I've seen this year: "With a trash can full of blood and hair / You had to get yourself out of there."
The song's video, premiering above, doesn't realize that gory imagery but still sticks with you. Common Holly's Brigitte Naggar is placed in a motel room as an inflatable flailing tube mascot dances in different public settings. The grinning, air-powered creature could be an avatar for Naggar, who wears a sweater with a similar color to the mascot. Despite the tube man's energy, there's a sense of exhaustion to the clip that's dreamlike and all-too-relatable.
Naggar gave us a few sentences on the song's composition over email. Read them below:
"This is one of the first songs Devon and I recorded at my family cabin. It was snowy in January. We anchored ourselves in my mom's room with a handful of instruments, stuck me at my less-than-mediocre drum kit. We recorded sweatshirt-beads hitting a chair... I had little idea where I was going with the album yet, but I watched 'Central Booking' lead the way."
Common Holly's When I Say To You Black Lightning will be released on Barsuk, Royal Mountain Records, Dalliance, Remote Control Records and Solitaire Recordings on October 11th. Preorder it here and check out the band's tour dates below:
7/26 - Toronto, ON, Canada w/ Sky Wallace - Yonge-Dundas Square
7/27 - Teulon, Manitoba - Real Love Fest
7/29- Minneapolis, MN,USA w/ Mauno - Kitty Kat Club
7/30 - Chicago, IL, USA, w/ Mauno - Schuba's Tavern
7/31 - Sandusky, OH, USA w/ Mauno - HALO live
8/2 - Brooklyn, NY, USA w/ Mauno - Trans Pecos (Night Class)
8/3 - Portland, ME, USA w/ Mauno - The Apohadion
Thumbnail photo by Alex Apostolidis