It’s time to step into the ominous sonic world of FRAGILE BODY, the solo experimental project from musician, photographer, and filmmaker Gretchen Heinel. Today we’re lucky to be premiering the video for her stunning track “Siren.” Between the languid, crushing depths of the beat, the captivating drone melody, and Gretchen’s striking and sorrowful vocals, I’m absolutely enraptured with the cinematic atmosphere of this song. And the gorgeous video captures all of these qualities in eerie black and white. “Siren” is off her new record Unwell which comes out via Annihilvs Power Electronix on September 1st — pre-order it here. Right now, watch our premiere of Fragile Body’s “Siren” below…
The song “Siren” was written during a particularly lonely time, and I was initially exploring more broad themes of isolation and disconnectedness, that feeling of being “unmoored and adrift”; the song didn’t get its emotional anchor until i tweaked some of the lines to be about someone — a siren to whom I could sing.
Gretchen Heinel, Summer 2023
The music video is a fairly straightforward interpretation of my song: a lost wanderer happens upon another person — a siren who makes them feel less alone at first, but who also poses some real threat or danger. So the question becomes, does the wanderer continue on, alone and lost, or do they choose to drown in the embrace of the siren?
I was lucky enough to work with two movement artists — Zepe (the Wanderer) and Gabriela Alvarado (the Siren) when bringing this video to life. Additionally, my friend Esther helped immensely in styling this and helping me to achieve a timeless, enchanted look to this music video.
