In July of this year, Lebanese-born experimentalist, Thoom, took a left turn into a mellow grunge sound in latest single, ‘Tony’. While that particular musical aesthetic isn’t completely foreign to her work, it did mark something of a change - though unpredictability is something of a hallmark of the artist.
You can say the same of the subsequent video for ‘Tony’. The song seemingly demands visuals draped in darkness, claustrophobia and melancholy, at least on a visceral surface. Instead, the video is shot in a wide, eclectic landscape made of cracked desert floors, mountainous backdrops, muddy rubble and fields populated by long green reeds.
Much of it takes place at the peak of sunlight, as our heroin frolicks through these vistas, eating fruit, rolling around in the dirt, jolting and gliding through concave-gaps of rocks. While ‘grunge’ conjures up very particular imagery, she’s anything but lethargic, she’s not wallowing in self pity. If anything, she’s free, she’s without inhibition - another trademark of a unique artist who keeps surprising.
