The Staves – “Teeth White” Video

The Staves – “Teeth White” Video

If I’m properly understanding the arc of the Staves’ recent you-must-hear-this masterpiece If I Was — and if there is supposed to be an arc at all — the punchy yet melancholy “Teeth White” is the point when, having licked her wounds after a bad breakup, our protagonist steels herself to go back on the town and mix it up again: “I’ve got my teeth white/ And my jeans tight.” In an email to their mailing list, they explained, “It’s is a song about feeling like no matter what you do, it’s never good enough. It’s really a song about the frustration of being held back and not being free.” So make of that what you will.

The song now has a video, which features the Stavely-Turner sisters in two scenarios: joyfully performing to an empty Paris barroom and somewhat awkwardly rocking out in that same barroom while everyone around ignores them. Again, I’m not 100 percent sure that is what’s going on here — the clip was filmed by the team from La Blogothèque, makers of the exquisite Take Away Shows series, so it may just be designed as a verite performance video — but I am 100 percent sure this song gets stuck in my head every day and that it’s welcome to do so for the foreseeable future. Watch the video below, and seriously, listen to If I Was in full because you’re missing out.

If I Was is out now on Nonesuch. Buy it here.

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