For those craving grindhouse by way of Greta Gerwig, in comes the enchanting tones and unnerving imagery of “Home,” the new visual from art-pop project Revenge Wife. Described as “Phil Collins meets 10cc,” the song “Home” is given a video that shows Revenge Wife – aka Elizabeth Nistico of indie-pop duo HOLYCHILD – in a series of scenes stolen out of the hypersexual celluloid “Horror” section of a video rental store. The context of the imagery transforms the song’s soft, sparse production. Revenge Wife’s enchanting vocals, once disarming, are now haunting, creating a dichotomy that’s underscored by the track’s lyrical heart.
“I love ‘Home,’” Elizabeth tells HollywoodLife. “I made it with the iconic band Magdalena Bay — we wrote it together, and they produced — and it feels like nothing I’ve ever done before. It’s really 80s and sad and has this nostalgic longing. I’ve been making music for a long time, so it’s nice to hit on something new for myself.”
“Lyrically, the song goes into that classic New York/Los Angeles time difference of… 3 hours,” she says with a laugh. “.That’s what I’m describing in the verses, like, “you’re having lunch, and I’m having breakfast,” etc. It was really personal for me — like everything I make — and I love the way it sounds.” As for the video, Elizabeth best describes it as “a nightmare.”
“It is sequential with the other two videos I have out for Revenge Wife so far,” she explains. “It actually is the prologue, though, and it’s the nightmare that happens before I.. or the character.. jumps into a toxic relationship. I’m really inspired by horror and toxic decisions we make and fear and why I let fear rule my life. Sometimes I think that fear is not bad, that there is no good or bad, and it’s just an aspect of life to be explored, and sometimes I think it can be so parasitic, and it infects everything it touches. I’m trying to really dive into that for myself, and I’m exploring it with my songs, my music videos, really everything.”
“Home” is the third single from Revenge Wife’s upcoming debut EP, Background Songs For Your Boring Life: Part I. The first two – “Earthquake” and “Manifest” – have earned her praise for being “mystical,” “dreamy,” and “effervescent,” with a boundless supply of imaginative concepts and creativity. If you couldn’t glean that from “Home,” you might be sleeping, and no one should sleep on Revenge Wife.