Watch Albert Hammond Jr’s Dark, Yet Lovely “Muted Beatings” Music Video

The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. is set to release his forthcoming solo album, Francis Trouble, through Red Bull Records on March 9. Earlier this month, the singer and guitarist announced the album with the release of its first single, “Muted Beatings.” Now, the artist shares the Fraser RIGG-directed music video for the single, starring Hammond Jr. and Mr. Robot’s Portia Doubleday. In the music video’s excerpt on YouTube, Hammond Jr. reveals:

I followed Fraser into the abyss. He had a real vision he expressed by saying “Love is the one thing that transcends time and space.” I felt like he was moved by the song and knew how to capture it visually. I understood what he meant but to me the love didn’t represent human connection. I knew It would be the most universal way to show it visually but I found myself realizing the cycle of who I was and what I was about to become, with the death of my old self and the birth of this new person, was what transcended time and space. That love for life, that lust for life is forever reshaping itself.

Francis Trouble’s themes of identity and loss are prevalent in the “Muted Beings” music video, as the character played by Doubleday finds herself looking over the ocean holding onto an urn. Hammond Jr. recounts a narrative in the music video of two lovers who live a complex relationship; on the outside they seem happy, but they are troubled by an unexplained incident, putting them in the position of having to let go of something they clearly love.

Hammond Jr. previously explained that his forthcoming album came about after he learned that his yet-to-be-born twin brother was stillborn while Hammond Jr. was still in his mother’s womb. You can read more about the inspiration behind this conceptual new album here, and watch the new music video for “Muted Beatings” below.