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Jun 17, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Norway’s Ora the Molecule (aka Nora Schjelderup) is releasing her debut album, Human Safari, on July 23 via Mute. Now she has shared another single from it, “The Ball,” via a video that features lots of slow motion shots of her riding a horse (sometimes in reverse), as well as of her with a dog on a beach. Kristof Gerega directed the video. Watch it below.

“Community is so important. It’s the most important,” Schjelderup says in a press release. “But Human Safari is also criticizing when there’s a lack of community. ‘The Ball’ is about everyone wanting the same thing but there’s only one. And this ball is going so fast that it could actually kill you if it hits you the wrong way. Strong division creates friction and unhealthy competition. Community is everything, but it starts with the individual.”

Of the video, Schjelderup says: “The video was shot and directed by the Polish director/cinematographer Kristof Gerega. We met in Berlin, and shortly after he came to visit us in the mountains of Andalucia, Granada. We shot the film over a weekend in between stealing oranges from the side of the road, swimming in the Alboran Sea, running around with (the then puppy) Olive, and borrowing a horse from the husband of the lady that worked in the local grocery corner shop…. ‘The Ball’ is about the chase. We wanted to create an atmosphere of urgency at a steady pace. Something fast in slow motion. Like the speed of everyday life in contrast to the steady pace of a human lifetime. It goes slow, but fast at the same time. The horse idea was derived from my childhood memories of riding horses. I thought it could fit as the song has some influences from Western cowboy movies. Filming me on the horse was pretty crazy as it had been 10 years since I sat on a horse. I had totally forgotten about galloping. For the slow motion idea to work, the horse had to run pretty fast. I was holding on for my life!”

In February, Schjelderup shared the song “Creator” upon the album’s announcement, and it was featured on our Songs of the Week. Then she shared its next single, “Die to Be a Butterfly,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week. The album also features previous single “Sugar.”

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