NEW TO YOUTUBE — Cellist Alexander Hersh's ABSINTHE II

Hersh's new narrative-led music video features music by Nadia Boulanger and visuals inspired by Wes Anderson and Larry David

Cellist Alexander Hersh has recently released the second video for ABSINTHE, a multi-year project comprising the release of an album — as well as narrative-led music videos that sustain and develop the project's themes.

Hersh characterizes the visual language of the music videos as combining the style of Wes Anderson and Larry David — as well as some cheeky references to Architectural Digest's luxury-focused Open Door series.

The videos, which are dropping according to a pre-set schedule, feature works from the album alongside their own separate narrative. These works (by Janáček, Nadia Boulanger, Scriabin, and Ravel) were all written prior to the 1915 French ban on absinthe, which was not repealed until 2011.

Hersh's most recent video, ABSINTHE II, features extracts from Nadia Boulanger's Trois pièces pour violoncelle et piano.

"So often in classical music, we talk about telling a story with one's playing, and that's beautiful but very abstract, I realized," Hersh said of the project. "That's a very hard thing for non-musicians to grasp."

"I just love the idea of creating access points for people," he continued. "And I think these narrative videos open invite in a whole new audience."

Hersh's album is now streaming on major platforms. You can view the video for ABSINTHE II below.