Common Holly Unveils New Single ‘Terrible hands’ from Forthcoming Album’Anything glass’
Brigitte Naggar, better known as Common Holly, continues her quiet, deliberate evolution with the release of ‘Terrible hands,’ the latest single from her upcoming album ‘Anything glass,’ out June 13 via Keeled Scales and Paper Bag Records.
Following the minimal shimmer of ‘Aegean blue’ and the fluttering unease of ‘Enough,’ the new track extends her sonic reach into a gentle, jazz-inflected reverie while staying grounded in the introspective lyricism that has long defined her work.
Built around a patient, twinkling piano line performed by Naggar herself, ‘Terrible hands’ unfurls slowly like a half-remembered dream. Her soft vocals, layered like gauze, pose weighty questions: “Are we made of plastic or of stone?” and “Are we still together on our own?” The song lingers in these open-ended reflections before dipping into a dusky bass-driven section that recalls the mellow soulfulness of early Norah Jones.
The accompanying video, directed by experimental media artist and filmmaker Ana-Maria Trudel, blends shifting perspectives and analog textures into something both ephemeral and intimate. Trudel explains, “I was thinking of the sun faded quality of an old newspaper left on the dashboard – images that get prettier when they are forgotten. I wanted this video to feel nostalgic and delicate like a private journal entry you never meant to show anyone. We ended up using a lot of the b-roll to stitch this video poem together which gave it an intimate fly on the wall feel.”
Naggar adds, “One of my oldest songs on the record, Terrible hands is a reflection on our place as humans on a planet in decline, as part nature and part consumer, and on the ways we carry shame for choices we have made both knowingly and unknowingly. I always think of the bloodstained hands of Lady Macbeth. I loved working with Ana-Maria on a video that gives us this contrast between black and white brutalism and enjoying a nice day in the park.”
‘Terrible hands’ is out May 21 via Keeled Scales and Paper Bag Records.
Headline photo: Aabid Youssef
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