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Last year Willis Earl Beal went from being a homeless musician to a musician who kicked homeless people after releasing his uniquely twisted debut album on XL, instantly becoming the weirdest act on their roster (Adele he very much ain’t).

Now he returns with a new music video. Well sort of. Being Beal, it’s far from a standard promo; indeed, only snatches of music are heard during its six minutes. Instead we get an animated clip, ‘Principles of a Protagonist’, which bills itself as “a short film actually about something”. Built around Beal’s distinctive illustrations, it shows our man, aka “the protagonist”, sitting alone with his cat in a bare Chicago apartment. A hurricane is approaching, but as Obama makes statesmanlike speeches on TV and people panic in the streets, Beal contents himself with learning some new dance moves and trying to chat up an automated telephone recording.

Directed by ‘Nobody’, the film is full of zen philosophy about nothing, everything and the nothing/everything in between. Plus, naturally, a disturbing sex scene where Beal/Protagonist turns into a dog while a naked woman licks his testicles. What does it mean? Nothing. And, you know, everything. Fact is, there are very few other musicians out there capable of making art like Willis Earl Beal’s. If his new album is the dark storm depicted in the video then, like his protagonist, we should simply sit back and embrace it…