Milky Chance 'Cocoon' by Davis Silis

The safety and warmth of a cocoon gets flipped on its head in Davis Silis' new video for Milky Chance.

An injured woman is carried to safety to recover and kept in a room in a dilapidated factory. All seems to be going well until those caring for the woman discover her talent for spinning riches from seemingly nowhere.

Part fairytale, part extended metaphor, Silis' work is a grim reminder of the selfishness of the human condition. The run-down industrial locations of a post-soviet Latvia serve as a perfect backdrop for a dream of shared riches turned to dust.

DAVIS SILIS:

"The idea came from the title of the song. We usually associate the word 'cocoon' with a sense of comfort and protection in earlier periods of life. When we want to return to our cocoon, it’s like we want to return to our past, isolated from the outside world. But I wanted to explore the other side of what that means. That sometimes returning to the past isn't good. It can even be dangerous and destructive.

"So, using classic fairytale tropes, I wanted to create a story that felt like a parable of this idea. A forgotten community that stumbles onto a girl who could potentially help them, but in their self-imposed cocoon, they let their own greed get in the way. The girl herself, in that sense, almost becomes a metaphor for something much larger. I came to think of her character almost as mother nature, exploited until it's too late, while those around her become blinded by short-term self-interest. All told, a visual antithesis to the music, densely packed with metaphor.

"Huge credit has to go out to Milky Chance and their management for championing this project at every step, and for the hugely talented cast and crew in Riga, Latvia who brought this all to life."