Samantha Crain’s dusty, unmediated voice breathes new life into threadbare folk arrangements, and her song “Killer” off of this year’s Under Branch & Thorn & Tree is nothing if not a masterful example of what it sounds like to be forward-thinking, genre-bending songwriter in this day and age. Despite its title, this is a lively song overburdened with a darker message, and its video illustrates that dichotomy perfectly. A young boy parades through a near-abandoned town playing the role of a local cop. He scours roadside sewers for abandoned toys and dolls and ends up perusing a cemetery. Diffuser reports that the track is a protest song that grapples with police brutality and the disturbingly common, unjustifiable deaths of young black men at the hands of cops. Crain said the following about the song and video:

Every day we are told that progress is being made toward equality and fairness but it seems there are still widening gaps between classes, sexes, races and creeds… This song is a call for awareness.

Watch the Weston Getto Allen- and Dorian Electra-directed clip below.

Under Branch & Thorn & Tree is out now via Ramseur Records/Full Time Hobby.