Empath Have a Fucking Blast at the New York State Fair in Their “Born 100 Times” Video

It’s the noise-rock band’s first new music since 2019’s “Active Listening: Night on Earth.”
Empath Have a Fucking Blast at the New York State Fair in Their “Born 100 Times” Video

It’s the noise-rock band’s first new music since 2019’s “Active Listening: Night on Earth.”

Words: Margaret Farrell

photo by Marie Lin

September 30, 2021

For a noise band, Empath have been pretty quiet lately. We haven’t heard any new music from them since 2019’s Active Listening: Night on Earth—but today, the four-piece have officially returned with a new song called “Born 100 Times” and a dizzying video.

“‘Born 100 Times’ is structurally very simple, consisting of a couple of hooks and a verse sung overtop of two repeated chords,” said vocalist Catherine Elicson in a press release. “I imagined a restructured pop song, having it start instantly with the hook and then eventually reaching a verse. While the lyrics are a somewhat spiritual reflection on devotion and power in one’s life, an isolating and very internal experience, the video offers a different viewpoint.”

She added that the video was inspired by the band trying to capture “something beautiful and nostalgic” about the New York State Fair. “Two friends, Halle Ballard and Johnny Costa, filmed us having real, uninhibited fun running around, eating fried food, absolutely dominating the carnival games, drinking countless wine slushies, getting spun around on rides, and just enjoying being together. It was a much needed night of leisure at the end of a long summer spent preparing for the next phase of Empath. The video is a document of this special moment in time for us. United together, we left behind the isolating, internal struggles of our lives and connected to the real world outside of ourselves.”

Watch it all unfold below.