It’s Thursday, and if you live anywhere in the northeastern United States, chances are you’re emerging into a world battered by yet another snow storm. And so, to make your sloggy, soggy day more cozy, we’ve just the thing.
Oren Lavie is an Israeli musician whose work is dreamy and emotional, like a Tel Aviv twin of Nick Drake. This year, he submitted a video for his song, “Second Hand Lovers,” to South by Southwest’s prestigious competition, and won the Jury Award. It’s not hard to understand why: Imagining life crowded by the altogether too corporeal presence of ex-girlfriends, Lavie runs into trouble when he falls in love again. The video then becomes a haunting and gorgeous visualization of a state of mind with which we’ve all wrestled, trying to overcome the scar tissue of former heartbreaks and learn to love again despite the pain.
Make yourself a cup of chamomile tea, then, and get ready: “Second Hand Love” is just the song you need today.
Liel Leibovitz is editor-at-large for Tablet Magazine and a host of its weekly culture podcast Unorthodox and daily Talmud podcast Take One. He is the editor of Zionism: The Tablet Guide.
