Quantum Entanglement exists as two particles that can not be defined independently. It has been proven over and over again, and last summer, scientists at the University of Glasgow captured the first photographic evidence. Such a fundamental and natural property becomes the backbone of non-binary avant-garde aritst Torii Wolf’s new single “Arrow of Time,” a mind-bending, genre-less immersion into self-doubt and sabotage.
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They frame an emotional and tragically cyclical expedition through a blurry, distorated soundscape that sticks to the brain. Wolf’s vocals are both celestial and tortured, and their form floats through an electronic comos nearly as haunted and warped. “I was nothing that that you’d ever like, anyway,” they grapple with emotional vines, suffocating and swarthy. “You’re with me all the time.”
Anyone who has struggled with self-doubt knows sabotage is a likely by-product. One feeds into another, erupting into an endless loop. “Quantum Entanglement occurs when two particles become inextricably linked, and whatever happens to one immediately affects the other, regardless of how far apart they are. Once we become connected, we will be unable to break away from one another no matter how near or far,” Wolf says of the song, a collaboration with Electronoir.
“Sometimes that connection can feel so strong, and it feels unclear to the human mind and emotional body as to why they are physically apart from the other, yet still feel one another so deeply,” they continue. “This can lead to negative self talk with inner dialogue to comfort themselves in knowing it all happens for a reason. Some reason.”
The visual, directed by Kayko Tamaki, a Memento Mori Production, traipses across the globe, etching the song’s themes into every single culture. Self-doubt and sabotage are as universal as life and death, fleeting and inevitable phases of existence itself. Wolf plays as daringly as they have always done in their work, musically dashing between genres or tearing boundaries down completely. In their 15-year career, they’ve mastered stripped-down singer-songwriter storytelling and more towering hip-hop glossed compositions, even collaborating with DJ Premier on 2017’s Flow Riiot. At the core, regardless of embroidery, Wolf’s songwriting remains strong and full of heart.
Watch “Arrow of Time” below.
Photo by Dillon Buss
