The Rural Alberta Advantage “Not Love or Death”
The Rural Alberta Advantage shot their video for “Not Love or Death” in a teenage girl’s bedroom. It’s not entirely clear what happens but the story is one of love. As the video opens we see a teenage girl sitting on her bed turning something over in her mind. She then pulls a t-shirt out from under her pillow. As the story unfolds we see a montage of scenes all taking place in her bedroom. We see a boy wearing the t-shirt, then he takes it off. They both get under the covers though they aren’t naked, just shirtless. That’s when the girl’s father catches them. From then there are scenes of the two together in good and bad times. There are scenes where the girl is alone. All the while The Rural Alberta Advantage are playing in the corner. In the end, the girl goes to put the t-shirt back under the pillow, but instead opts to take it out of the room with her. Maybe she’s just going to wash it, but I think she’s getting rid of it. She’s worn it a few times, now it no longer fits her comfortably, like the end of a relationship.
We Were Promised Jetpacks “A Part of It”
We Were Promised Jetpacks have a new music video for “A Part of It”. The video begins with an aerial view of a woman running away from camera looking up back over her shoulder every once in a while. It’s almost as though she’s running from a dragon, and we’re seeing things from the dragon’s point of view. Remember Bastian flying on Falcor at the end of The Neverending Story? That’s what I think of with this view. Back to the running woman. After a while she reaches a white van where she opens up the doors at the back. Inside is a man tied up. She pulls him out with his hands tied, draws a gun on him, and tells him to run. He obliges. She then gets into the van, pulls out a syringe, injects herself and drives off. As we follow the man running off into the direction the woman came from, the camera pans to the sky and we can see that there are two balls of fire flying, one on an upward trajectory, the other starting it’s arc down. Now, on its own this video doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it is part 3 of a series. The first video is for “I Keep It Composed” while the second is from “Peaks and Troughs”.
Kodaline “Ready”
Kodaline’s have done away with that monster who works in an office and loses his dog. Instead they have brought on Christoper Mintz-Plasse, the actor who gained fame playing McLovin in Superbad. Mintz-Plasse plays a horse jockey who has suffered an injury that leaves him bound to a wheelchair. He is obsessed with getting back in the saddle. We see him race a kid on a skooter by spinning his wheelchair wheels as fast as he can. He gets in the gym and starts working out. He even heads back to the track with his father to watch some races. Eventually they strap him onto a horse. We don’t get to see what happens, but up until this point the jockey’s had a fighting spirit, so I don’t see him stopping at just mounting the horse. The video was made for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund which is a charity that helps jockeys who have been severely injured while racing horses.
Jain “Come”
Come / Jain from Greg&Lio on Vimeo.
French songwriter, beatmaker, singer Jain has shot a video for “Come”. This video is all about perspective. First of all, it’s filled with many Jains, though there is only one. Secondly, it’s all shot with clever tricks. There is a scene where we see Jain standing away from the camera when an airplane flies on screen in the distance. She grabs it, dips and lifts it as a child might a toy airplane, and lets it go as it starts flying on its own. M.C. Escher fans will love the chessboard she plays with, as well as the shots that show Jain sitting upright, but then the movement of other Jains makes it seem like she’s not. It’s not easy to explain. Just watch. This video has tons of nifty effects, it’s almost like a pop-up book, though nothing pops up at you.
Crookers featuring Jeremih “I Just Can’t”
Crookers’ latest song features Jeremih. The video for “I Just Can’t” features five versions of the same man. It plays out like a David Lynch film. There is a police officer who likes raunchy women. Then there is a man who drinks and pops pills while playing at the casino who turns out to be an ER surgeon. There is man who is planning to rob some money. Then there is the man who has all that money that he must have acquired from illegal means. These are all the same man. What happens is that the guy planning the heist takes his girlfriend to rob the man with the money. He’s not there, but his girlfriend is. He’s almost back to the apartment when he hears the commotion. So he hurries, is a tossed a shotgun by his girl, and there is a chase. By the way, the girlfriends are the same woman. This video literally revolves around two people. The police officer pulls up as the man who stole the money comes out of an alley. They stare at each other as they realize they look exactly the same. This man’s girlfriend, not the police officer’s, runs out and shoots the officer. They take off running. The police officer is transported to the hospital, where a surgeon goes to work on him but hesitates because they look the same. Back to the chase, the man with the money gets shot. He falls, his girlfriend pries the bag away, shoots him again, and takes off. The chasing party arrives, and the girlfriend goes off to chase the first girlfriend, while the second man stares at the first lying on the ground, decides not to shoot him again, but rather spits as he takes off. For some reason he’s not surprised to see his doppelganger before him. I mean, who knows you better than yourself.
