Sometimes the magnetism of a song is impossible to ignore, and it demands that it be sung in a certain way.

Tom Waits is a man whose voice and style is eclectic and unabashedly real.  I tear apart the facade of people who claim to truly embrace all kinds of music from those who truly do live and breathe it without genre borders by evoking the man’s name in conversation.  You don’t need to love his entire discography, or even a majority of it.  But if you don’t appreciate and admire him, I can’t take your claims seriously.

Like the man himself tells us, songs command a way of performing them, of giving them breath.  Toronto band The Nursery understands this truth.  From their psychedelic indie rock vibe to their nudge-of-Dali video for track “This Wild Heart”, there is an understanding of the balance between the music itself and the art of the performance.  Featuring a dancer whirling in silk atop a landscape of fire and contrasting noir shots, the band evokes the beauty of love and the emptiness of its failure.  A caged lion refusing to relinquish its true nature, it paces and waits.

The narrative is simple, but not.

Watch the video for “This Wild Heart” from The Nursery‘s debut EP Carnival Nature below and after enjoying its visual pay-off, check out the band’s page for more.