Watch experimental vocalist Martin Howth’s new video for “Axolotl”

Gina Ziegler

Last month, experimental a cappella act Martin Howth, aka vocalist Audra Mariel, released new album Distant Dissonance via Nefarious Industries. And today, she’s shared a new video for “Axolotl,” a gorgeous and haunting piece that finds Mariel looping her own voice in stunning harmony with itself, paired with a visual filmed at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey. The Marci Mazzarotto-directed clip also features an extended version of the song with a longer intro, showcasing the historic location. Watch it below.

Mariel said in a statement, “‘Axolotl’ is a song about loss and regrowth. It was inspired partially by Frida Kahlo’s assertion that, ‘There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolley, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst.’ The song references my own experiences with loss resulting from a health condition and the physical limitations of my body, and with the upheaval caused by love lost. I often dance in my dreams; the first line of the song alludes to one such dream, and it flows from there. This song is part of an album of music that was recorded in various historic spaces, each song in a different space. Axolotl was appropriately recorded in a ballroom on the former Gould Estate at Georgian Court University. It ends with a waltz.”