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Beck Embraces Death in ‘Heart Is a Drum’ Video

Beck Heart Is a Drum Morning Phase Colbert Video

As Beck continues his lap around the country in support of his February album Morning Phase, he’s shared a startlingly surreal track for one of that LP’s standouts “Heart Is a Drum.” The Sophie Muller-directed clip relies on grainy, black-and-white footage to build its strange world, which features multiple Becks, a couple of astronauts, a creepy old house, and death incarnate.

It’s all pretty hard to follow, but it makes some explicit references to a pioneering experimental film, Maya Deren’s outstanding (and similarly inscrutable) 1943 short Meshes of the Afternoon. So the fact that Beck (and a figure who’s dressed like young Beck from the “Loser” video) ends up palling around with Death starts to make some sort of sense.

Monday night, the Los Angeles singer-songwriter also made his way to The Colbert Report for a mellow performance of that same track, as well as another cut from one of SPIN’s Best Albums of the Year So Far, and an endearing chat with Stephen Colbert himself (sample excerpt: “Why Beck Sad?”, “I just need a hug”).

Watch the clips from his Comedy Central appearance below and the “Heart Is a Drum” video above.