Eli Cripps – Poison Arrow: Video Premiere

“First love, last love and all the loves in between”, is how singer-songwriter Eli Cripps describes her relationship with music and understanding love in all its guises is the polemic of her debut album MARS. Written over the course of two years, the record follows the release of her 2013 Red Carpet EP, endorsed by BBC Radio Manchester Introducing. Underpinned by cinematic soundscapes and orchestral touches, MARS' use of African rhythms honours the artist’s upbringing, creating a work of ambitious and layered sonic character.

Lead single These Things I’ve Seen is emblematic of the singer’s ability to weave personal experience into universally understood sentiments, managing to be both an empowerment anthem and a personal testimony of the moral complexities relations between people create. It’s bold, brave and balks at the idea women shouldn’t express their anger.

Poison Arrow, the record’s second single, tackles similar themes. “It’s about the realisation of my role in my own heartache and channeling that into taking control of my own healing. Like all of the songs on the album, it’s about love, loss and renewal,” Cripps tells us.

The Skinny is pleased to premiere the video for the single, directed by Michael Yeung Yekim, which the singer describes as “subtle and intentionally uncomplicated”. It will be released on 29 May, with the album to follow in June.