“We shot high-speed footage of a mannequin dressed in black T-shirts and set them on fire,” recalls director Rob Chiu of shooting today’s brooding music video for Douglas Dare's track "Nile". The London-based multi-instrumentalist's debut album, Whelm, released earlier this year, is awash with subtle electronica and delicate piano chords, resulting in Dare being described favorably as Elton John-meets-James Blake. The video follows its wandering protagonist (played by the director’s fiancé) as she explores a wind-swept landscape in Snowdonia, North Wales, before slowly disintegrating into the ether “as if something was destroying her from the inside”, explains Chiu. “I like that the viewer can interpret it in multiple ways.” The latest signing by Erased Tapes (home to neo-classical composers Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds), Dare found the desolate beach featured in the piece particularly resonant given his upbringing in the English coastal town of Bridport. “It wasn’t a conscious decision to have this as a theme,” says the 23-year-old, “but I have always felt most inspired looking out at the horizon.”

Whelm is available now on Erased Tapes. Douglas Dare embarks on a US tour in the fall.