Singer and pianist Kristeen Young has unveiled her latest music video, a fiendish clip supporting “Pearl of a Girl,” a lively track taken from her fifth album, The Knife Shift. Directed by Robert Greenwood (Jared Leto’s younger brother), the video opens with contrariety as Young drags a knife across her neck in between flashes of a sign that reads “God Is Our Shepherd.” There isn’t a straightforward narrative here, but the visual supports the song’s subject matter, which deals with the religious oppression of females: The camera follows a group of four women (and one fashionable child) as they march through the barren streets of St. Louis; all throughout, the camera cuts to different kinds of religious iconography (a shuttered church, a menorah being blown out) and features a bit of nudity.
Young — who, until earlier this year, served as Morrissey’s longtime tourmate (it’s a long story) — told SPIN that she chose to shoot the video in her hometown of St. Louis because she felt inspired to capture “the heartbreaking, crumbling beauty there.” Watch the video above and find Young’s upcoming tour dates below.
Kristeen Young tour dates:
September 10 – New York, NY @ Bowery Electric
September 20 – Brooklyn, NY @ Black Bear
