Absence is crucial to the new video for Night Slugs chieftain Bok Bok‘s gorgeously pensive collaboration with so-three-thousand-and-eight R&B singer Kelela, last week’s “Melba’s Call.” In the song, the voice responding to Kelela’s heartfelt ambivalence — “It’s hard to let go,” she lets go like Adele Nazeem — is Bok Bok’s production, as choppy as it is funky, like a Holodeck version of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In the equally captivating video, Kelela video-chats from her bedroom, but behind the futuristic audio-video setup on the other end, there’s no one — just a luxurious pad, including the verdant centerpiece from the single’s artwork. There, you see the underlying conflict of the song: “To find a real love, you gotta get bodied,” she sings, if we can trust our ears, then adds, “Why you acting so cold?” Well, why indeed, right? The single is out March 31 via iTunes, and the Solange-approved singer of “The High” starts her first U.S. headlining shows this month at South By Southwest.
Kelela Skypes With the Void in Bok Bok’s Peachy ‘Melba’s Call’ Video
