Julia Holter has shared a surreal new video for the track “Les Jeux To You,” off of last year’s album Aviary, her fifth full-length.

The black-and-white clip has excesses of black paint, baby dolls and melodrama. Holter says the song is about “a seeking for compassion and humility in a world where it feels like empathy is always being tested.”

The director of the video, Geneva Jacuzzi, stated in a press release that she took inspiration from the 1968 Alejandro Jodorowsky art film Fando Y Lis while crafting the imagery:

After I heard ‘Les Jeux to You’, images from Fando Y Lis, a film that has always haunted me, flooded my mind and I knew we had to reimagine it. Set in a dystopian future past, the two lovers escape to a mythical city and along the way are confronted with both terrifying figures of the unconscious and joyful memories of the past that accelerate a descent into madness. As a female artist, I felt the need to explore the anima of this myth and reinscribe the imagery as a mode of empowerment of the feminine directorial gaze.

Jacuzzi also spoke of doubling down on her original intent of the video in light of learning about the controversial allegations against Jodorowsky:

I knew it would be a challenge because it is a controversial film, but it was particularly unsettling to read the recent allegations against its director Alejandro Jodorowsky shortly after we made the video. It made me think more about the project and ultimately reinforced my original intention of reframing the work as a complex and nuanced take on the psychology of self-destructive relationships.

There is a mysterious essence to this story, a sort of psycho-spiritual unravelling that I connect to the surrealist poetry of Julia’s lyrics and music.

Julia Holter is also going on a world tour, which kicks off in a few days. She’ll be bringing along a 6-piece band.

Watch the “Les Jeux To You” video and find her tour dates below

TOUR DATES:
02/19 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall *
02/20 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts *
02/22 – New York, NY @ Warsaw *
02/23 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall *
02/24 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa *
02/26 – Toronto, ON @ The Great Hall *
02/27 – Detroit, MI @ El Club *
02/28 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
03/01 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
03/04 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial ^
03/05 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir ^
03/06 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos ^
03/08 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall ^
03/09 – Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room ^
03/10 – San Diego, CA @ The Loft, San Diego State University ^
05/27 – Guimaraes, Portugal @ Centro Cultural Villa Flor
05/28 – Garda, Italy @ Teatro Municipal de Guarda
05/29 – Lisbon, Portugal @ Capitólio
05/31 – Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera Sound Festival
06/02 – Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands @ Best Kept Secret Festival
06/03 – Brighton, UK @ The Old Market
06/04 – Birmingham, UK @ Glee Club
06/07 – London, UK @ Field Day Festival
06/08 – Paris, FR @ Vilette Sonique
06/09 – Luxembourg @ Rotondes
06/12 – Bergen, Norway @ Bergen Festival
06/13 – Oslo. Norway @ Piknik I Parken
06/16 – Duisburg, Germany @ Traumzeit Festival
06/17 – Schörndorf, Germany @ Manufaktur
06/20 – Linz, Austria @ Rosengarten
06/21 – Vienna, Austria @ WUK
06/23 – Milan, Italy @ Magnolia
06/24 – Ferrara, Italy @ Cortile Castello Estense
06/25 – Zurich, Switzerland @ Kaufleuten
06/26 – Lucerne, Switzerland @ Südpol
06/29 – Bialystok, Poland @ Halfway Festival
07/04 – Roskilde, Denmark @ Roskilde Festival
* w/ Jessica Moss
^ w/ Tess Roby

Aviary is out now via Domino.