Parker Woodland Channels Sinéad O’Connor in Music Video for “Stranger”

A couple days before debut album There’s No Such Thing As Time drops, Parker Woodland sneaks in a second single to showcase the album’s emotional and sonic range. “Stranger” as a track leaves you feeling both drained and lifted.

The song forces you to reckon with your heartache and figure out how to move on from the strife. The video hits similar hyperstylized notes as certain black-and-white scenes in films like Kill Bill and Sin City (or throwbacks to Nineties alt-everything), an eerie visual patina made more haunting by the creeping curl of Andrew Solin’s guitar and the eerie 3/4 tattoo of Keri Cinquina’s backbeat. The saturation and off-white pigmentation make this a visual experience, if you can handle the flashing. It’s an emotional carnival, a house of mirrors that lacks the fun but has all the freakiness.

Director and member of Austin Music Award-winning Sailor Poon Madison Whitaker derived much of her inspiration from stills of Dune and the striking visual simplicity of Sinéad O’Connor’s interpretation of The Family deep cut “Nothing Compares 2 U.” (Do yourself a favor and peep Prince's original 1985 composition.) The combination of Whitaker's direction and editor Chase Bradburn's aesthetic vision is absolutely crucial. Bradburn took his inspiration from the stark black-and-white close-up style of legendary Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman as well as the acid-laced blues of Beatles B-side "I Want You (She's So Heavy)."

It’s a full circle moment, speaking of family. Walter’s daughter Ace Curry, already an award-winning theatre kid, provided the lighting with Whitaker, who at times only had the beam of a phone flashlight to navigate the set.

“When I heard the album, ‘Stranger’ immediately grabbed my attention," Whitaker said. “I felt like I could see through Erin's eyes as she moved about, feeling like a stranger in her own life and to the world around her. I wanted the concept of that isolation to translate over, making her and her alone the primary focus. The light and shadows symbolize the different glimpses of self and other people's external perceptions of us as we change and adjust ourselves to live with what's become and what once was.”

It's fitting that the MV takes a more toned-down approach. Counter to the community participation and intentional use of color and glitter that was “Makeup,” “Stranger” is just as the title suggests. It’s a study on isolation, what that does to the mind as it continues to fester in its loneliness. The madness swirling around any one person on any given day is proof enough that the world needs as much light and love and life as it can get. Dealing with this constant vigil of self-deprecation would make you go absolutely over the rainbow.

It’s a good thing, then, that Parker Woodland – fronted by the steel butterfly that is lead singer Erin Walter – are merchants of colorful celestial bodies brought on by rain. Though the video suggests otherwise, what with its stark use of monochrome and the rapid strobe effects, the band continues to wave the banner for those who feel powerless. Despite the title, “Stranger” is a song of comfort and connectivity. As with “Makeup,” Walter looks you in your eyes. She’s talking directly to you.

The song itself sweeps in like a sudden Austin downpour. It creeps in on moments of lyrical clarity (“You whisper in the darkness/ ‘There’s no such thing as time’/ You took me to paradise and you covered my eyes”), then steadily builds on a repeated cadence of “You think you know yourself/ You think you know the world/ Grief makes you a different girl.” A swell of movement and sound crashes at the apex into a sonic jubilee of ear-splitting guitar and utter percussion detonation.

“The world is on fire. 'Stranger' is a song that goes deeper into anger, grief, and longing,” Walter said. “The video rightly reflects that."

Parker Woodland will have a live viewing of “Stranger” at their sold-out album release show on Friday, Sept. 6, and bonus matinee show at 3pm Saturday, Sept. 7, both at Mohawk Indoors. The band will also take over Waterloo Records Friday at 5pm for an in-store performance and record signing.

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Content warning: This video contains strobe effects and flashing lights. Viewer discretion advised for anyone who may suffer from epilepsy or are prone seizures.