A Closer Listen
A great music video can tell a complete story in only a few minutes, and win the heart of a viewer. It can move a viewer to cry or laugh or dance, or simply entertain with an explosion of color and light.
Music videos have been enjoying a new renaissance on YouTube, often occupying the same role as movie trailers by announcing albums months in advance. The best serve as short films in their own right; while conceived as the visual accompaniment to music, the music in effect becomes the score to the film.
Our selections are presented in recommended viewing order, from slow to fast, pensive to active, earth to sky. Consider this a mini film festival!
Glowworm ~ The Garden
Directed by Andy Trimbach
Suffused with bittersweet yearning and joy, “The Garden” catalogues the dreams of a stifled retail worker. The ending is heartbreaking, but in only three short minutes, the viewer gains a sense of empathy and prays for the dancer to once again emerge.
Per Storby Jutbring ~ The Backrooms
Director: Midjourney
Influenced by The Muppet Show, Swamp Thing and Where the Wild Things Are, “The Backrooms” is part of a series of videos by Midjourney that explore a mysterious, multidimensional world. While no human is looking out of them, the children are safe in this fantastic indoor urban garden.
Max Richter ~ Movement, Before All Flowers
Not much seems to happen in this video, because it all happens internally. The video celebrates the impact of reading, the value of thought, the passion of insight, and the shift from reader to writer. The album honors literature, and the cover image is a display of some of Richter’s favorite books.
Anoice ~ kill lies all
Director: Yuki Murata
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Is it possible to close one’s eyes, ears and lips to the world’s suffering? Yuki Murata’s video suggests that such attempts have a distorting effect not only on the information, but on the individual. The visual shifts are subtle, but insidious.
nubo ~ Planetary Vision
Director: Kazma Kitada
It takes a while to realize that there are actual human dancers in the video (Yutaka Nakasone and Jun Morii), as they emerge from shapes and forms, flowers and trees. The bubbly music produces a sense of wonder, mirrored by the vibrant color, evolution and flow.
B. Visible ~ Ella feat. Silvia Ponce Marti
Director: Silvia Ponce Marti
We’re fascinated by the shifting sense of scale, from apples in a river to tiny trucks and an elephant walking across a woman’s body. We’ll let the viewer decide whether the director’s message about “hyper-sexualization” is effective, or if the video amplifies what it means to diminish.
Andrey Kiritchenko ~ Tiger Laughs
We love seeing the art of Maria Prymachenko brought to life. To see so many images in the same place, in such a cavalcade of color, is a joy. As the swirls become a kaleidoscope, then a collage, then a quilt, the effect is mesmerizing. Great art finds a way to endure.
Sculpture ~ Cross Processor
Director: Reuben Sutherland
Sculpture’s latest zoetrope release can be viewed with a turntable and Smartphone app; or one can get a feel for the audiovisual duo’s work through their latest video, which incorporates collage and other elements and ends up being a brand new piece of hybrid art.
Wave Arising ~ Monin Yiri
Director: Kynsie
Alidera Dobet and Marie-Ruth Kienou have a natural kinship, and their dances burst with life. The joy of discovery is felt in their choreographies as they teach one another; a feeling of love rises over the pulsating beats. In the end, we realize that they are the seeds of the great tree.
Kiasmos ~ Flown
Director: Greg Barnes
The story of Icarus is recreated in this emotional video, which features the expressive face of Robert Goodman. We all know how it’s going to end; or do we? The final images are open to interpretation, and we’re cheering for the old man to fly.
Richard Allen
Thu Dec 05 00:01:36 GMT 2024