Lana Del Rey “Carmen”
Lana Del Rey is a bit of an enigma. Or a conundrum. Or something. She’s kinda like a Lady Gaga without all the makeup and costumes, at least in her awkward attempt to be different. The video is a mish-mash of hand-held cameras of Lana and her beau in the city, mixed with shots of old footage of people in crowds, more home video type footage, and the intermittently placed footage of fireworks and money that says “Del Ray” on it. What amazes me is the way I perceive Lana to be purposely trying to underachieve. As though she’s just saying “What’s the fucking point in trying? I can half ass this”. It does work. And so, this lovely piece of video that ends with the cliched French “fin” deserves a nod.
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Portugal.The Man “All Your Light (Times Like These)”
I’ve never thought of Portugal. The Man as being dark. But in this David Lynch-like video, I can see that I’m wrong. Between the dead bodies, the hallucinations, and the bad decisions, the protagonist in this video is really up for a headache in the morning. Or maybe that’s just me from trying to figure out what exactly is going on. It’s definitely worth a look, and you’ll never look at Portugal. The Man the same way again. This was the band’s first time letting someone else have total creative control of the video process. The only instructions given were “Make something disgusting”. Well, in this day and age I’m unsure if they hit the disgusting mark. How many people get grossed out by the original “Psycho”? Not that many. “All Your Light (Times Like These)” is off their latest album In the Mountain In The Cloud.
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Chairlift “Met Before”
Remember those choose your own adventure books? Chairlift‘s “Met Before” video is like one of those. I won’t say much about it. Go on an adventure. And then try again. What ending will you get this time?
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Wretch 32 Featuring Ed Sheeran “Hush Little Baby”
It’s perhaps not the worst nightmare and maybe it’s been done a little too much in the movies, but I do know that I figure I may find myself in this situation if ever I’m experiencing the birth of my child or Wretch 32‘s video shows, perhaps missing it. I think the issue here is that the gentleman who gets in the cab is in a bit of a tough relationship. And it appears it’s his problems that are screwing everything up. So, while sitting in the back of the cab frustrated that he might miss the big moment, he starts picturing what his life could be like. We never find out if he makes it in the end, so we don’t know how the story ends or what the next chapter of his life looks like. But it is a touching video to go with a touching song. “Hush Little Baby” will be featured on the album Black and White due out May 27th.
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Perfume Genius “Dark Parts”
I don’t have to dress like a crazy person to be ignored, but some people do. It’s difficult to understand everything that’s going on with the mysteriously masked character that seems to cut in and out of scenes like one of those ghost movies, but there is something going on between the man and woman. Something underneath the apparently normal lives they have. I quite enjoyed following them on what I’m assuming to be quite a mundane day in their lives. Most striking for me is how Perfume Genius ends the song with the lines “I will take the dark part of your heart into my heart.” I think this has something to do with trust as she takes his hand and climbs up a tree in the darkness, only for the video to end with a shot of light. It gives me a bit of a warm feeling, and what better way to start the weekend?
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