Eye TV go for a simple performance-based video for “One Day Ahead”. They’re playing on stage at a theatre but with their backs to the empty auditorium. The video has been shot with the song sped up and then slowed down in edit, giving the everything a dreamy feel.
The video was directed by Greg Page and it shows his strength – capturing a band’s live energy. The sped-up/slowed-down trick has a nice side effect – because miming to a Chipmunk version of your song is kind of silly, the band all look genuinely happy, something that’s hard to achieve in a video.
I need to comment on lead singer Sean’s hair. It’s starkly bleached blonde. Now, I know this look was fashionable in the ’90s. Nathan from Zed did it. Even Justin Timberlake once did his hair like this. But looking at it now in the ’10s, it seems like peacocking, a practise used in the “pick-up artist” community where a man uses outlandish dress to get the attention of unsuspecting women. So, hey ladies, check this out – bleach blonde hair, hoop earrings and… a soulful, uplifting pop song.
But the video isn’t trying to get in anyone’s pants and so doesn’t let Sean’s hair take over. The song has a Manic Street Preachers sound and the video generally keeps things pretty low key. There’s one moment of wildness, though. In the middle of the song the slow-down action gets crazy, looking like they did one take totally over the top. Drums are thrashed, the keyboard teeters, and rockstar leaps are made.
The song ends by fading out and the video ends with a close-up of someone’s foot twisting to the beat, implying that the song is going on forever.
Best bit: the keyboard player’s internal struggle between wanting to have a bad-ass rock star freak out but not actually wanting his keyboard to smash on the floor.
Director: Greg Page
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
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