As with the Afghan Whigs’ most successful work, the new video for “Lost in the Woods” is a study in the contrast between light and dark. The black and white video directed by Phil Harder is a precise visual representation of the song, its oppressive yet intriguingly dour atmosphere built upon stark, minor piano notes offset by lightly twinkling ivory. Come the chorus, it takes on transcendent energy with pounding drums and Greg Dulli crooning in his upper register. In the second verse, it backslides into a sonorous cello’s boat-rowing rhythm before the refrain surges back with Dulli delivering the climax of his oblique cautionary tale.
The video gives apt imagery to the tune’s broad sprawl. A woman’s body lies amid mushrooms and dead leaves as a rogue wolf darts through the forest. Two barefoot angels dance in opposition to the movements of a Baron Samedi apparition. A creepy deer skull-mounted twig sculpture flashes briefly, before it all elevates with beautiful overhead shots of the woods’ wide domain. The video is designed to be projected during a Halloween party.
“Lost in the Woods” is the third video from the Afghan Whigs’ 2014 comeback album, Do to the Beast, following “Algiers” and “Matamoros”.