Dom Dolla and Tove Lo’s “Cave”: A Vampire’s Anthem in Time For Spooky Season

Still fresh off bringing the heat from her EP of the same name, Tove Lo has nonetheless graced her fandom with yet another danceable ditty. This time, one that’s seasonally appropriate—a.k.a. “spooky.” After all, what could be more ominous than a cave (especially at night)? Except, in this instance, the word refers to “succumbing.” In other words, “caving in” to something…or, more precisely, someone.

With the help of DJ and producer Dom Dolla, the frenetic backbeat of the song lends urgency to Tove’s simultaneous resistance to and gravitational pull toward the object of her affection. And to establish the tone for the moody ambience of the single, Dom Dolla and Tove set their video, directed by Grant Spanier, in the darkness of some creepy woods (but then, all woods are creepy, whether it’s dark or not). Driving through them at exactly 3:33 a.m.—because the time 6:66 doesn’t exist—a shot of Tove coolly wearing her sunglasses at night in the front seat is the first indication that this is a vampire story. That and, well, bats live in caves, so the song title is more than a slight “Easter egg.”

As for the driver, Dom, he needs no sunglasses, wearing only his baseball hat as a shield for his eyes from the night. It’s then that Tove opens the track with the ethereal, hyper-romantic verse, “I’ve got this hunger/Are you alone?/Make me feel better/Fuck to our song/I can feel my walls coming down/Late at night when I fade/You can cut me deep with a line/Like a cold sharp blade.” While it might initially be presumed that the pair is each already a vampire on the prowl, we soon see there’s more to the narrative than that.

So it is that, jostling around in what Tove calls a “buggy thing,” the two roll up to what looks like an abandoned warehouse where an underground rave is in progress. Albeit one that is in rather scant attendance. Even so, the red lasers flitting around the room almost make up for the fact that this is a vampire rave, as the attendees’ pointy ears immediately indicate (less cliché than a baring of fangs, to be sure). It is at this moment that Tove and Dom pull out their crossbows—suggesting they’re vampire hunters and not yet vampires (maybe this is why Tove is dressed like she got inspired by The Matrix)—and aim to kill…or at least tranquilize.

Alas, their dart is easily caught by one of the vampires, prompting the two to look at one another in horror as the subtitle “run.” shows up at the bottom of the screen for a touch of silent movie cachet (after all, Nosferatu is one of the most classic silent and vampire movies of all time).

Having poked the bear—or rather, vampire—Dom and Tove flee the scene back into the woods, with many subsequent shots channeling The Blair Witch Project thanks to unsteady handheld camera work and plenty of scenes done in “night shot” mode. An overhead shot with the camera going into the woods as though it’s a 3D model also lends an eerie “this is a simulation” quality to the narrative.

But if it is, it doesn’t make it any less daunting/frightening for Dom and Tove to be “turned.” To have to “cave” to their pursuers by eventually becoming one of them. Hence lyrics like, “I can feel my walls coming down/Late at night I forget/You can make me weak with a line” and “I know all your tricks and you lick your lips ‘cause you know I’m gonna cave/I’m gonna cave/You pull me closer I feel your skin/Memories wash over, I let you in.”

But not without a fight as Dom and Tove run through the woods during Spanier’s chaotic, intercut scenes of the woods appearing as though turned upside down while he focuses in on the male vampire who then gets the subtitle that warns them, “Game over.” His cohorts also join in pursuit of the duo through trees punctuated by giant cobwebs—as though their method for ensnaring humans is decidedly spidery.

In the end, we can see that Dom and Tove have, indeed, caved. This indicated by the flashing of vampire fangs (it was bound to happen sooner or later). And also, in Tove’s case, red eyes. The final scene then shows them hanging upside down in what appears to be the very same abandoned warehouse where they first tried to overtake the vampire ravers. But hey, as it is said: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” In other words, surrender Dorothy. Cave.