SPRING TERM RETURNS WITH “HUMMINGBIRD,” A DICKINSON-INSPIRED SINGLE AND FULL MUSIC VIDEO DIRECTED BY CLAIRE DORISE
The Indianapolis-based indie pop project's new single, co-produced with Doug Schadt, riffs on Emily Dickinson's “A Route of Evanescence” and arrives alongside a full companion video.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Spring Term, the indie pop project of songwriter Nathan Davis, releases his new single “Hummingbird” on August 28, paired with a full music video directed by longtime visual collaborator Claire Dorise.
The song is a riff on Emily Dickinson's “A Route of Evanescence,” her ode to a hummingbird, and borrows its central image of a fleeting visitor who seems to arrive from somewhere else entirely. Themes of community and widening perspectives are explored as Davis frames its arrival as something like a homecoming. A hummingbird, and the people it stands in for, return from faraway places bringing traces of everywhere they've been. “Violetear, gorgeous nothing / Perfect still in the air / Caught my eye for a moment / Then you’re gone, golden flare.”
Co-produced and mixed by Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers, Claude) alongside Spring Term, “Hummingbird” moves between exuberance and stillness. Playful, tumbling piano lines nod to the spirit of Ethiopian composer Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru, woven through nylon-string acoustic guitar and la-la-la hooks that give the song its buoyant, communal lift. Underneath the energy sits a more a pensive current of watching someone arrive changed, carrying news of other worlds, and knowing they won't stay still for long.
“The first time I read Emily Dickinson’s take on home and seeing entire worlds through something as small as a bird stunned me. We need people to leave and come back, and expand our own world by sharing that experience. Our home is formed by the experiences we carry with us”
The accompanying video, directed by Claire Dorise, mirrors that same push and pull. A bright, playful studio environment full of friends singing along is contrasted with smaller, outdoor moments of return and reflection. It premieres alongside the single on August 28.
