Pop rock trio HAIM has been working with director Paul Thomas Anderson for a while now, putting out short films and videos related to the sister-based band’s 2017 release, Something To Tell You. Another one of these wistful collaborations arrived on the internet last night, with Anderson serving up an intimate, lonely take on the album’s closing number, the stripped-down, haunting “Night So Long.”
For most of the run-time, Anderson’s camera simply lingers on singer and guitarist Danielle Haim’s face, as she sings out to an empty amphitheater. As the song’s quiet energy slowly builds, though, the shots slowly pull out, revealing the rest of the venue (and the band). Despite those reveals, though—and the briefest of smiles that Haim flashes the live crowd who’ve assembled to hear her and her sisters play—it never quite manages to escape the song’s isolated, melancholy vibe.