L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N - Noah and the Whale Video Review

Lyrics:

Lisa likes brandy and the way it hits her lips
She's a rock 'n' roll survivor with pendulum hips
She's got deep brown eyes
That've seen it all

Working at a nightclub that was called The Avenue
The bar men used to call her "Little Lisa, Loney Tunes"
She went down on almost anyone

From the hard time living 'til the Chelsea days
From when her hair was sweet blonde 'til the day it turned gray
She said:

[Chorus]
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
You've got more than money and sense, my friend
You've got heart and you go in your own way
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
What you don't have now will come back again
You've got heart and you go in your own way

Some people wear their history like a map on their face
And Joey was an artist just living out of case
But his best word was his letters home

His standard works of fiction about imaginary success
The chorus girls in neon were his closest things to friends
But to a writer, the truth is no big deal

From the hard time living to the sleepless nights
And the black and blue body from the weekend fights
He'd say:

[Chorus]
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
You've got more than money and sense, my friend
You've got heart and you go in your own way
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
What you don't have now will come back again
You've got heart and you go in your own way

[Bridge]
On my last night on earth, I won't look to the sky
Just breathe in the air and blink in the light
On my last night on earth, I'll pay a high price
To have no regrets and be done with my life

[Chorus]
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
You've got more than money and sense, my friend
You've got heart and you go in your own way
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
What you don't have now will come back again
You've got heart and you go in your own way
[repeat]

This music video by Noah and the Whale is a narrative and performance hybrid which cuts between the band appearance the characters who a linked to the lyrics.  The characters in the lyrics are ‘Lisa’ and ‘Joey’ who live relatively unsuccessful lives, and in this video the characters give the audience a visual representation of this life.

The lighting in the video I slow-key and the lights flicker on and off to shift between showing the band and the characters. The flickering lights and unfocussed camera work suggest the character’s distortion of life a view of life, working with the lyrics ‘imaginary success’ and as for Lisa the alcoholism noted upon. The video’s colour scheme and lack of other performer shows emptiness of the character life throughout the music video.

Meeting the dark colour scheme the whole band wearing the same dark colours, but unlike the lyrics they are dressed very smart. This would suggest that they don’t relate with the characters, but may have come into contact with them. The band itself is portrayed to be neat, which could be due to what is expected to be worn from the tradition indie scene. The band’s initials are show  (NATW) on the drums to promote the band throughout the video, it is also simple black and white, which may be due to the band not trying to stand out and be irregular, unlike many more popular bands/artists who need to try to look different to endorse their own image as a brand. This could indicate that the band has a lot of confidence in its own music, as their image is so simple.

Thought the video is pretty dark and unremarkable, this factor makes the artist stand out from many other ‘Popular’ artists who need to stand out to sell their image, some examples being Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj. This is common for many indie artists who strive to be different and refuses to follow what is popular and in the charts, therefor is individual. This matches the lyrics in many ways ‘Got more than money and sense my friend, you got heart and you’re going your own way’. Having no regrets to go into music and not conforming to the masses. The band is performing to only one person and his child in an audience which showing that they want to be seen as more of an underground and unknown band and therefor are pretty humble.

The video often uses shaky camera and there looks less expensively made as no other equipment looks like it was used – more like a home video or a student-made video of those on a budget. This makes them look like they haven’t been picked up by any big Record Companies, that they’re singular and got where they wanted on their own, despite being signed to record labels such as Mercury Records. This would suggest that they are stubborn to their music and not easy to change. This is a classically indie-artist trait of today.

There is cheap used lighting used, such as fairy lights which emphasises the low budget used on the video as well as the rented room which looks more like it would be rented out for parties and underground gigs. Which supports the concept of undiscovered indie bands, therefor the band itself isn’t conforming to what is popular, but the following what is considered typical for an indie band. 

Feedback

 

I got some feedback of the video and the most who commented found the unfocussed camera irritating as well as being too plain to keep anyone's attention. In this case more emphasis on the song which might make it more popular, and this therefor allows the audience can pay more attention to the song as a product over the video itself. But on the other hand it is likable as it fits the genre and is unusual to what is typical of popular bands. Also that there are other key themes which would go unnoticed to most.  

From this video we would consider taking a few aspects, for example the style of clothing which they wear which we think would be fitting for the band shown in our video and how we wish that they would be portrayed. Also the use of lyrics which match the characters in the video, which would help to give the video more of an impact, for example in this video highlighting the lives of people who are struggling, but trying to carry on with life.