Go Behind The Scenes Of Emily Kai Bock's Music Video For Grizzly Bear's "Yet Again"

We recently premiered Emily Kai Bock‘s music video for Grizzly Bear’s “Yet Again,” which follows the symbolic journey of a figure skater who crashes through thin ice and emerges from a lake on the other side, traverses across iconic American landscapes, and upon finding home, has a good old fashioned freak out.

As Kai Bock initially described the video to us, “The girl is symbolic of adolescence and the failure to learn a performance or role. I like the idea of performing on thin ice and the performance attire turning into an alienating and physical burden. Performance is a big thing in our culture—we all act out a role in some way or another.”

In the video above, Kai Bock further explains how the idea for this somber and enigmatic imagery came about. As it turns out, much like the character suddenly appearing before us in the video, the idea of a figure skater just popped into the director’s head after listening to the track for the first time.

She then expanded the idea to have the skater’s performance evoke a kind of angelic figure, along with “a fragility there of maintaining a spectacle or performance.” Then this moment of transcendence is shattered, broken with the ice, and her world becomes more lonely and alienating, contrasting with her role in the world above.

As well as revealing how the idea came about, Kai Bock also shows the importance of family when it comes to shooting music videos—especially an uncle with a swimming pool when you need to film someone falling through an ice rink, and a mother with a spare bedroom when you need to film a teenage girl freaking out.

And if you missed the music video, watch it below!

@stewart23rd