Back in July, we premiered the video for “Qualm,” a dark and disturbing meditation on suicide from post-rockers Loraine. In addition to its grim subject matter and unsettling visuals, the video provided us with our first taste of the band’s upcoming full length, Exist. The thinking then was that we’d see the release shortly thereafter, but here we are well into October and still no record.

While a definitive release date still remains unknown (the band’s Facebook page insists it’s “coming soon”), last week Loraine unveiled the video for the record’s second single, “As Vulnerable; Is Love.” Like “Qualm,” it’s a taut, cinematic venture, but instead of overtures to violence and suffering, there’s a ray of light in the distance.

The video opens innocently enough — under a canopy of soft, sparking guitars, a young couple show themselves to be in the throes of love. There’s the obligatory flower, carefree dancing in the kitchen and a lot of laughing, hand holding and cuddling in bed. But as the music slows from a mid-tempo lurch to a stark canvas of reverberating guitars and white static cymbal wash, the relationship begins to wither. Tempers flare leading to a bitter argument leading to romantic dissolution while the band storms in the background. But rather than leaving the viewer on a downer, the video offers up the silver lining I promised earlier — at least for the man. After purging his feelings of loss with fits of rage and contemplative beers at the bar, he meets another woman and together they initiate the whirlwind cycle of romance once more. The narrative feels a bit contrived and expected, but between the placid beauty of the soft focus imagery and the group’s command of tension and dynamics, there’s plenty of positives to keep the viewer engaged.

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