I recently had the great fortune of viewing a music video by the group Chairlift for their song "Evident Utensil" (from the album Does You Inspire You) . In it are various images of the group twisting and turning through distorted phases that seem to magically morph right before your eyes. Despite the fact this video was probably made with extremely modern equipment, it looks as if they used outdated cameras and mixers to put it together. While the video is fun to watch, the song is what is compelling me the most at the moment. A catchy piece of synthpop panache, the song is instantly addictive. While the tune seems to evoke the stylings of a few different 80's groups, namely The Sugarcubes, it manages to accomplish a tightness in flow and execution that Bjork's old contemporaries never quite managed.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
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I hate it when the idea behind a music video has no relation to the song whatsoever. I hate it even more when that idea is cheezy digital eye candy that rots the imagination as quickly as it is erased from memory when the next magic trick is performed.
ReplyDeleteThe director probably had probably come up with this effect months before he was even asked to do the video and was just waiting to use it on the first client who didn't give a shit what the finished product looked like but pretended to be serious artists while evading all responsibility by saying they wanted to give the director "creative license."
(I don't want to blame the band members, though. They may have had no input in this.)
I feel the quality behind a music video lies in how the mood of the song matches the visuals. In this case, I feel the visual effects of the video meet the bouncy wonderment of the song halfway. There are plenty of great music videos that don't necessarily relate to the song (lyrically speaking, if that;s what you mean by "no relation to the song whatsoever"). I agree it probably was an idea the director had before he heard "Evident Utensil", but the manner in which it was done would not have worked on just any song (for example, the pacing of the visuals would play an important part).
ReplyDeleteI don't feel that Chairlift were evading responsibility either being that several artists do not adhere to an idea of a song's meaning having to be parallel to the message of its music video.