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Kishi Bashi, 'In Fantasia'

The latest video from loop-loving pop singer Kishi Bashi, for "In Fantasia," tells a magical, mysterious tale of love and loss. Gorgeously rendered by filmmakers Bram De Jonghe and Andrew Turski, the story opens with an unsettling image of a man sobbing alone in his car. It's the beginning of the end, and as he collects himself and pulls away for a drive in the rain, his memories of a love that didn't last come rushing back.

On the surface, it's a fairly uncomplicated story told many times before. But you can't shake the sense that things aren't what they seem; that something darker is going on around the edges. Is the man alive? Dead? Near the end, as the lovers embrace, he looks off as if he sees something or someone approaching. What's coming for him?

Maybe it's a pack of blood-sucking children of the night — no, seriously. "This song is originally about vampires and loss of mortal innocence," Kishi Bashi tells us via email. "I had a dream about the bizarre and melancholy feeling of reluctantly embracing the new dark eternity. I definitely did not want to see a vampire in the video, so when the director approached me with a treatment about love and loss, I knew that I would like the reinterpretation."

The video for "In Fantasia" was shot in Prague and stars Iva Holubova and Daniel Viana. The song closes Kishi Bashi's most recent album, Lighght.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.