It seems that there currently is an influx of fascinating music videos in the indie music world. Two videos that came out last week by bands whose music I love for their unique sound, atmosphere and calm dancability factor show striking similarities.
“Wishes” by Baltimore band Beach House and “A Tooth For An Eye” by Swedish sibling duo The Knife both show an upside-down sports world in slowed-down footage and featuring a unique character lip-syncing the female vocals (in “Wishes” it’s Ray Wise, who played Leland in Twin Peaks – in “A Tooth For An Eye” it’s a beautiful, exotic young girl with long cornrows).
The big difference is that the budget for “Wishes,” directed by Eric Wareheim, must have been huge while “A Tooth For An Eye,” directed by Roxy Farhat & Kakan Hermansson, is one of those lovely small scale videos that lives on just a simple idea and good song.
The Knife has included a statement with their video explaining that it “deconstructs images of maleness, power and leadership” and shows men following the lead of a young girl into a dance, which “allows the men to let go of their hierarchies, machismo and fear of intimacy.”
A Tooth For An Eye from The Knife on Vimeo.
I’m not sure if Beach House and Eric Wareheim were trying to make any kind of social statement with their video or if it’s just supposed to provide us with an escape into a surreal dreamlike world of stadium sports where the athletes show off a harmonic combination of martial arts, cheerleading and the sort of activities that usually happen off the field (like water squirting and pulling off warm-up pants). I guess in a sense it holds up a distorted mirror to mass entertainment and people’s celebration of athletes on and off the field.
The Knife’s forthcoming album Shaking The Habitual will be released on 8/9 April. Beach House’s album Bloom is out now.