Break Free from Toxic Relationships with Twist's "Freak" Video

Love, as it were, can drive you crazy. That is, at least, a sentiment that has been repackaged back to us several times over in popular culture and society. More often than not, who is driven crazy is usually a woman (in a heteronormative relationship and situation) and to that end, she is not portrayed sympathetically. Try as we might to be progressive now, that is not always the case. We're always seen as acting crazy simply by feeling at all.

For Twist's new video for the track "Freak," from the recently released Benefits EP, this very idea is tackled with a more sympathetic lens, albeit the visuals are more intense. The fuzzy Toronto garage rock outfit, helmed by Laura Hermiston, took a decidedly cinematic approach for the video, giving us eight acts, each titled with emotions. In it, while we listen to looping, thick guitar riffs and Hermiston singing "learning to freak," with a man strapped to a chair, and several women circle him, including Hermiston. He looks defiant, as though he is the victim, while the women around him are driven to darker lengths of fighting amongst each other (usually this happens for literally no good reason) and then him, eventually taking back some semblance of control in their own narrative and asserting themselves. "The song is about feeling confused and wanting to not be a victim anymore and to take control. I wanted a cinematic video with a narrative to capture this sentiment without it being a literal adaptation of the lyrics," Hermiston said in an email to Noisey. "[The] directors, Brittany Lucas and Jacq Andrade, adapted this idea and based the video on the role of the 'psychotic woman' in cinema. It explores the portrayal of how a woman is often driven to insanity by obsession, paranoia, jealousy, and isolation."

She continues: "The video showcases the places the mind can go. It shows the illusions that people can create for themselves that turns into a world of obsession, mania, and, ultimately, regret. In relation to the song, I think this drives home the idea of feeling manipulated and figuring out how to leave a situation— regaining your control."

Watch the video above and see where you can catch Twist on tour. Dates
10.06 Detroit, MI - Trixies
10.07 Cincinnati, OH - The Comet
10.10 Toronto, ON - The Baby G*
10.11 Ottawa, ON - House of Targ
10.12 Montreal, QC - Brasserie Beaubien
10.13 Burlington, VT - The Upper Roost
10.14 Manhattan, NY - Babycastles
10.15 Brooklyn, NY - Silent Barn
10.16 Cambridge, MA - Zuzu
10.17 Quebec City, QC - Le Cercle"
10.18 Moncton, NB - Claude's House
10.20 Halifax, NS - Halifax Pop Explosion10.21 Halifax, NS - The Syrup Factory^

* w/ Saint PE, Crocodiles
" w/ Partner
^ w/ Rural Alberta Advantage