Kari van der Kloot Flourishes! Premieres Her “Sprout” Music Video

For Kari van der Kloot, this era of her life has been all about growth. And like any good songwriter, she has chronicled it all. These inspirations and reflections are the basis of her brand-new album, Window. Today, we are pleased to premiere the accompanying music video for “Sprout,” the album’s third single. As the name suggests, this song is all about personal growth, prompted by the ebbs and flows that have taken place within Kari’s life since around the time the COVID pandemic began. This has been a traumatic time for many, but her music has kept her grounded and her life purposeful.

As you might expect based on the song’s title, the “Sprout” video features many shots of nature, the environment, and our day-to-day surroundings. Kari was closely involved in both conceiving and filming the video clip. She worked closely with director and editor Mariana Meraz, an award-winning photographer and filmmaker based in New York.

Offering her thoughts on the deeper meaning and motivation behind the song, Kari tells us:

“‘Sprout’ is about revisiting a traumatic event from the past and acknowledging the growth and healing that can come out of that trauma. My favourite line in the song is, ‘There’s the tiniest sprout growing through the cracks in the concrete.’ To me, that represents the idea that growth can happen anywhere.

“As I was writing ‘Sprout,’ we were in the early days of the pandemic, and things were looking pretty bleak overall, so at the time, writing ‘Sprout’ sort of had a dual purpose: me reflecting on how I grew out of past trauma, but also reminding myself that there was room for reflection and growth even with the darkest days of the pandemic still ahead of us. When Mariana and I filmed the music video, we were going for a balance between dark and light, with lots of layering and florals.”

Kari’s new record, Window, was released last month via TPR Records. Many of the songs were written in the early phase of the COVID lockdown while living in New York City. Considering the conditions in which they were written, it’s not surprising that Kari’s lyrics on the album are deeply personal. They reflect on the challenging balance between isolation and the needs of a community, as well as the personal growth that can accompany periods of solitude.

Musically, the album is delivered within the spirit of jazz, but with many different influences. In composing the album, Kari made sure to strike up a balance between intricately arranged parts and more freewheeling improvisation. In writing and putting these songs down on tape, Kari worked with a talented cast of New York musicians. Her core team consists of flautist Elsa Nilsson, keyboardist Jamie Reynolds, bassist Gary Wang, and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell. She has worked with this ensemble for many years now, and it shows. Within this realm of trust and musical freedom, Kari has confidently and assuredly put it all out there.

Kari van der Kloot ‘Window’ album artwork