Library Card are on the cusp of making their US debut at SXSW. So the time is about right to reveal their latest single off of upcoming debut EP Nothing, Interesting – out March 15 via At Ease. “For The World Is Hollow” definitely shows Library Card at their grimmer, more foreboding side, with a starring role for drummer Emre Karayalçin’s creeping, menacing breakbeats – recalling Spiderland-era Slint at the heavier intervals.
“For The World Is Hollow” is a song that touches on grief and death: not as something that happens once, but stalks you wherever you go. The message of the song actually isn’t a gloom or doom scenario, but an appeal for healing oneself.
“I’ve heard death described / As the introduction of ink into water / It isn’t an absence/It is an expansion,” vocalist Lot van Teylingen utters with steely determination. Of the song’s lyrical inspiration, Van Teylingen (they/them) said the following: “Grief takes on multiple forms of existence. It lives in the creases of your pillowcase, in the shadows in the hallway, in the corners of your eye. It’s not scary, nasty, or undesirable, but it requires space and attention, just like us when we need to process loss or change. Embrace it. Our melancholy is not linear. It is fluid and universal.”
According to bass player Kat Kalkman, the accompanying music video – directed by them in collaboration with Lotte Spijkers – took come visual cues from Arctic Monkeys’ video for “The View from the Afternoon”. “Lot’s beautiful lyrics exploring themes of death and grief really move me, having experienced the loss of both parents a couple of years ago. For me, creating art is a way to channel emotions. Sometimes, I prefer expressing them abstractly, while other times, I appreciate being more direct. The concept for the accompanying video emerged from a poignant dream of embracing my mother, where I woke up in tears.“
Watch the video for “For The World Is Hollow” below and locate the song on streaming services.
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