Cruise Through London In The Dead Of Night With Laura Groves

Everybody has, at some point, stared out of a bus window at night time and felt kind of melancholy; and everybody has their go-to tracks for a bit of wallowing. British dream-pop artist Laura Groves is behind my latest favorite: "Mystique" is a delicate yet strong pop song that meditates on the masks we wear to present ourselves to each other, and its new video is a moody nighttime cruise around the streets of the British capital.

"When I wrote 'Mystique' I was thinking about feelings of alienation; the pressure to 'fit in' and present and uphold a certain image of yourself to the world or even to a certain person," Groves told The FADER. "The imagery I had in my head was of looking out onto lights at night—streetlights, from windows or from the bridges crossing the Thames. These things have always evoked a sort of mystery to me—imagining all the other lives being lived out there. I worked with filmmaker Emmaalouise Smith to try to capture this by driving round London late at night along routes that I was familiar with. We also took a trip out of the city by day to create the idea of escape - getting back to your own imagination and letting your true feelings come through.”

If you missed the release of Groves' Committed Language EP on DEEK Recordings earlier this year, don't miss its re-pressing on sleek white vinyl this August 7th.