Singer-songwriter Shara Worden (aka My Brightest Diamond) has premiered the video for the "Groundlift Remix" of her song, "This Is My Hand."

Directed by Raphael Neal, the video unfolds as a series of intercut closeup shots where individual actors and models (including Worden) take turns mouthing the song's lyrics. Neal's camera never lingers on any of his subjects with a licentious or probing eye, so nothing about the video provokes in a direct sense. He does, however, convey the tension of the song's central theme via his choices in choreography and tone. As Worden and the rest of the cast writhe slowly in various poses, sometimes looking directly into the camera, it's quite clear that the song is intended as an assertion (or re-assertion) of the notion of the body as one's own. The implications may be subtle, but they resonate powerfully as interlocking pizzicato figures anchor the remix's skeletal arrangement.

Worden offered the following about the remix and video via a statement issued today by her publicist:

What is interesting about any remix is that by changing the instruments, and even the language, the meaning of the song takes on a multi-dimensional aspect, like staring at an object from a different angle, you see it in a new way.  The form has not changed but the environment, the dressings, the costumery has altered your perception of it's meaning. To sing ‘This Is My Hand,’ a song about the embracing of one’s own body, means something different in this time in history when there have been so many recent tragedies, where innocent people have had their lives taken from them in acts of violence and racism in both America and France. Today this is not only a song of self-embrace, but also one about the inherent right of all people to maintain freedom in their own bodies.”

The same remixed version of the song will appear on My Brightest Diamond’s new EP, I Had Grown Wild, which is due out May 19 on Asthmatic Kitty Records. It's available for pre-order here. The four-song EP also features a version of the single in French, “Ceci Est Ma Main,” as well as two new songs, “Say What” and “Bronze Head.”

My Brightest Diamond – "This is My Hand" Official Music Video

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