October 2009: Isaac Aesili, Iva Lamkum, Jesse Sheehan, Jordan Luck Band, Julia Deans, Junipah, Kirsten Morrell

A wander around town, three faces, a nautical adventure, sleepy time, a smoky eye, and the new aesthetic,

Isaac Aesili featuring Rachel Fraser “I’m All In”

I really like what’s going on in this video. Rachel Fraser plays a woman who is disenchanted by the boozy antics of her mates at a sophisticated bar, so she takes off into the night. This is the cue for Rachel to wander Auckland, experiencing all the chaos and peace of the streets. Isaac Aesili makes a few appearances, adding to the magical and mysterious feeling of the video. Eventually Rachel’s walk takes her to a lonely beach where she ditches her shiny by sensible flat shoes and wades out into the ocean, because that’s real.

Director: Lakshman Anandanayagam

Iva Lamkum “Raise Your Glass”

“Raise Your Glass” is an unusual song, jumping from pop to soul to gospel. Iva Lamkum appears in three different personas in the video – an androgynous Janelle Monáe style by a grand staircase, a glam club girl against a gold wall, and a stripped back look in a black studio. Most of the video is close-ups of Iva singing the song, but all the still close-ups detract from the energy of the song. It feels like it needs more movement.

Director: Faye McNeil
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Jesse Sheehan “Brothers” – missing

Jesse Sheehan had won the Rockquest in 2009 and the video shoot was part of the prize. The only trace of this video is a news story from 2009 describing the video shoot. It was a celebration of redheads, with a call having been made for ginger extras to come along to the shoot. But what happened to the video?

Director: Ivan Barge

Jordan Luck Band “Johnnies Coin”

“Johnnies Coin” (not “Johnny’s Coin”, for some reason) tells and epic story of Johnny (Johnnie?). The video tells the story through a mix of real people and CGI backgrounds. The animation is a little clunky, looking quite two-dimensional at times. And then there’s the giant Jordan Luck head appearing in the sky behind his band playing on a boat. There are some good images in the video, but a lot of the time it feels like a literal depiction of the song lyrics, which doesn’t always work.

Director: Ed Davis

Julia Deans “A New Dialogue”

Fur Patrol had called it a day in 2008, leaving Julia Deans free to pursue a solo career. Her first solo single was “A New Dialogue”, with the video directed by Greg Page who also made Fur Patrol’s first video “Dominoes”. “A New Dialogue” sees Julia quietly walking around, gently watching people as they sleep. And while there’s something slightly creepy about Julia stroking people with her gloved hand, the fragility of the song doesn’t drag it down to being unpleasantly creepy.

Director: Greg Page

Junipah “Love Your Ways”

Junipah look like a group of students from a polytech’s music school, who have formed a band as part of their term assessment. But the music video creates a dream world where this ragtag group of misfits are rock stars, with the ability for their pop-rock to make the girls in the audience wildly toss their hair about and writhe with ecstasy.

Director: Marcus Ringrose
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Kirsten Morrell “Friday Boy”

The “Friday Boy” music video is all new aesthetic, a good three years before new aesthetic even had a name. It’s based around glitchy footage of Kirsten, inspired by a frozen Skype conversation the director had with the singer, used as a metaphor for the love sick feelings of the song. The video also adds speech balloons with song lyrics, which serves as a do not adjust your set message to viewers who might be confused by the patchy video quality.

Director: Rachel Davies
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

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