Dozens of Post-It notes, a smooth city jam, four days in the life, a disintegrating home, fan reactions, too much motivation, and the furniture movers.
David Dallas featuring Devolo “Indulge Me”
David Dallas delivers a blend of old school beats and seductive rhymes, a fatal combination. The video, directed by Special Problems, is based on Post-It note animation, at the time just before Post-It note pixel art became a sign of desperate office workers (“We have made a Post-It space invader in our window!!!! Look our crazy we are!!!!”). The video relies on D.dot’s charisma, and he expertly delivers to the camera, making the video so much more than a simple green screen job.
Director: Special Problems
Devolo “Can’t Let You Go”
https://youtu.be/zKXbmz4ToKo
“Can’t Let You Go” is a smooth jam, with the video set in a dreamscape based on downtown Auckland. The video open with bodies falling through the sky. It’s reminiscent of Carly Binding’s “I See the World”, which means it’s sometimes reminiscent of people falling from the World Trade Center on 9/11. Oh. The video doesn’t dwell on the jumping, though, and mainly sets Devolo in a dreamy world where everything is lovely.
Director: Mat Ellin
Dimmer “Degrees of Existence”
“Degrees of Existence” is a dark, brooding post-punk track and Special Problems pick up on that feeling. The video follows four beautiful people as they each wake up, get dressed, and explore the strange, edgy urban landscape they live in. The video feels cold, like a winter’s day in Auckland where no one dresses for the weather because it doesn’t feel like it should be cold.
Director: Special Problems
Ethical “Tied Up Part 2”
“Tied Up Part 2” is a sequel of sorts to “Tied Up”, keeping Daniel Merriweather’s vocals and adding some rap from Ethical. The video echoes the original, being set in a tastefully decorated suburban villa. Only this one is falling apart. The tasteful decoration slowly dissolves, symbolising the relationship falling apart. As dramatic as that sounds, all it leaves is an empty house.
Director: Zac Blair
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
False Start “I Will Never Forget”
Emo kids False Start get emotional with “I Will Never Forget”, a declaration of love. The video puts various people on a couch and gives them headphones to listen to the song. It seems like the intention of the video is to film their emotional reaction to the song, but most of the time they just look a bit bored. Occasionally there’ll be glances between the listeners, but it’s more “OMG, isn’t this weird?” rather than “I feel closer 2 u thru da music”. There’s more emotion tied up in this homemade YouTube video, where a heartbroken young Filipino guy is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend who cruelly dumped him, using “I Will Never Forget” as the soundtrack to his misery.
Director: James Solomon
Falter “Seconds of July”
The “Seconds of July” video follows a bored office worker. He’s sitting at his desk surrounded by CDs by motivational speaker Kurek Ashley. Despite it looking like something mocked up for the video, this guy is a legit motivational speaker. The motivation possibly goes too far, as the office worker storms into the toilets and spends a lot of time looking at himself in the mirror. He then goes out into the night, gets drunk and behaves like a total dick, sexually harassing women, getting into fights with men and jumping on stage with Falter. The end of the video reveals that it was all a dream, but by this stage I don’t even care.
Fur Patrol “Hidden Agenda”
For the first time in ages, Fur Patrol are giving us an energetic rock song. But, disappointingly, they don’t make the most of it with the video. Fur Patrol feature in the video, but not as a band. They’re artistic furniture movers, filling up a basement with household items as a besuited, moustached man dances, and sits. This feels like what rock is like when you get old, when in theory you’d like to be letting loose but in reality, well, the furniture needs to be moved and that chair looks very comfortable.
Director: Anna Lea Kelly