Claire Morales’ ‘Sibylle’ Video Is Psychological Thriller Co-Starring Pearl Earl’s Ariel Hartley

Denton singer-songwriter Claire Morales often mines dark territory in her music — if not always lyrically, then often in mood and tone. In her new music for "Sibylle," debuting today with the Dallas Observer, Morales brings those haunting qualities to life with a psychological cliffhanger.

Directed by Ana Dria and co-starring Pearl Earl singer and guitarist Ariel Hartley alongside Morales, the video depicts snippets of a car and foot chase between the two women. Lurching along with an inexorable sense of dread, the video's eeriness comes in large part from its open-endedness.

"I wanted the two women's relationship to be strange and mysterious. Maybe they were both in a cult together, maybe they are sisters or rivals, maybe they are strangers who experience a visceral draw towards one another," Morales says of the concept behind the video. "I wanted the characters to be caught in a cycle of chases, slowly and quickly, repeating forever with no resolution at the chase's end."
Not surprisingly, Morales — who admits she is both drawn to watch horror movies and frightened of doing so at the same time — drew inspiration for the video from her love of TV shows The Twilight Zone and Twin Peaks and the 2014 slasher flick It Follows. In particular, she was interested in the supernatural as it relates to matters of consciousness and identity.

"I'm fascinated with the idea of doppelgängers or shadow selfs. The thought that you have another half that you could someday encounter, the idea that you both must fight to occupy the same plane of existence, is both frightening and alluring," Morales says, pointing out that the video "was made by women and stars women."

"Sibylle" was featured on Morales' 2018 album All That Waiting and dedicated to '70s folk singer Sibylle Baier.

"(Baier's) music went unheard for far too long," Morales adds. "I have always found it haunting that such beauty can exist, unheard, unknown, waiting."

Claire Morales plays Three Links in Deep Ellum at 8 p.m. Sunday, April 28 with Poppy Xander.