Tufnels “Husky Vooms”

Another video newly online for NZ Music Month. The Tufnels are one of my favourite New Zealand groups. They were a later incarnation of the Bird Nest Roys and self-released one album, “Lurid”, which is full of brilliant indie pop.

“Husky Vooms” was the first of their three NZOA-funded music videos. Starting with some plinky-plunky piano, the song explodes into a repeated question: “Wouldn’t you like to see me?” The video takes its cue from this line, making the star of the video a blind man, using a cane to navigate around central Auckland. Impressively and/or suspiciously, the blind man confidently walks down the steep steps at the top of Myers Park.

The sepiatone adventures of this guy then make way for some grainy black and white footage of the band performing. But these two worlds don’t remain seperate. A guitar (sometimes seen with its human) is let loose in the blind man’s world, captured by a camera strapped to the guitar head.

Finally, the previously monochrome world of the video erupts into a colourful animation, as the blind man finds himself in a crazy lurid world of excitement.

I like that this video doesn’t focus on any rock star antics from the band. The lowkey adventures of the blind man lets the song stand out. It’s not a big sexy hard-sell music video, but it works just fine.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision