CLOVES has returned with ‘Dead’, the first single from the London-via-Australian artist’s hotly-anticipated second album. See the cinematic new video first on NME below.

Following on from her breakthrough 2015 EP ‘XIII’ and 2018 debut album ‘One Big Nothing’ – working with the likes of Justin Parker (Rihanna, Sia, Lana Del Rey) and Ariel Rechtshaid (HAIM, Adele, Vampire Weekend) – now CLOVES returns with a new single produced by Labrinth and Noah Cyrus collaborator Nathaniel “Detonate” Ledwidge.

“Maybe this song should have been back up titled ‘Conversations With Myself’, but this song journeys through anxiety and how that leads to self-depreciating actions,” CLOVES said of the new single. “One of my personal favourite lyrics is: ‘My mind’s been fucked, mental fornication’. I was in a hard place in myself at the time. I am very aware that it sounds cliche, but I genuinely found creating this track very cathartic.

“It not only felt like a way for me to express myself and get the heaviness out of my chest, but it also felt like the beginning of something – an opening foundation of an album.”

The cinematic sci-fi video, directed by Daniel Carberry and Carly Cussen, represents “the isolation, exhaustion and repetition that anxiety creates”.

“Anxiety can feel like an over-functioning game in your mind,” said CLOVES. “This video travels through the game ‘levels’ and barriers that your mind creates, only to end up right back where you started. Each level is curated around a visual cue as to what that internal monologue looks like. The visual concept for this album is all based in the same ‘world’; a place where everything is manipulated.

“In the same way your head can lie to you, so does this world. It’s trees are made of plastic and it’s synthetic to the touch. Zip code: My mind.”

More news of CLOVES’ second album, which also features production work from Hudson Mohawke (Kanye West, Pusha T, Anohni etc) and Jake Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, is expected in the coming months.