Impressing your 16-year-old self, good radioactive housekeeping, an orange fiery glow, a sinking ship, and Cinderella’s rickety door.
Lucid 3 “Burning on the Sun”
This is the most straightforward rock video that Lucid 3 has made. It’s just the band in a studio setting, with the bonus being that the backdrop has a yellow/orange fiery glow, like the band were actually performing on the sun. Except we know they’re not because the video cleverly opens with Victoria walking across the wooden studio floor. The video looks great and it captures Lucid 3 when they’ve dialled down the folky side of things. There is a possibility that this video didn’t actually receive NZ On Air funding.
Opensouls “Rise Up”
“Rise Up” is a cool jazzy track and the video continues the cool with its animated adventures. Has the look of 3D paper collages (but obviously put together with CGI). The video creates a romantic nautical feeling, where even a sinking ship is delightful.
Director: Paul Hershell
PNC featuring Awa “Saturday Getaway”
PNC gets nostalgic about the early ’00s, packing the song full of pop culture references and noting that he and his 16-year-old mates used to drink “Cristal mixed off with orange juice” (or is that Kristov vodka-flavoured spirit concoction?). The video is based around a party being held in a hotel suite, which seems like it was created to be sent back in time to show a teenage PNC what a cool life awaited him – drinking alcoholic beverages in a hotel room with Awa from Nesian Mystik, Scribe and girls (actual girls, dude!!!). PNC’s dinosaur friend also stars. Also: best use of a taxi van in a music video.
Director: Ivan Slavov
Polly Prior “Catch me”
“Catch Me” seems to be based on the Cinderella story. Sitting in her high-rise Manhattan apartment, Polly reflects back on the handsome man she danced with at a masquerade ball, while he similarly broods over her shoe. Prince Charming or just a shoe fetishist? Or both? The biggest unexplained mystery of the video – why is Polly’s fancy high-rise apartment shown as having a rickety old front door with peeling paint and stick-on numbers?
Director: Ivan Slavov
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
Reb Fountain “Hold Hands”
Reb plays a 1950s housewife, living in a modern, mid-century world where everything is glowing with atomic potential. The video gets surreal very quickly, showing an askew magazine called The Wonders of Modern Living (“MSG – kids will always enjoy their dinner”) and throwing in a poolside dance routine with the Don Draper dads. The video feels a little rough around the edges, but it’s an enjoyable retro excursion.
Director: Anton Steel
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision