We found the best new music videos from the last week, and we plonked them all here just for you. Welcome to The Rewind.
Goat Girl – ‘Sad Cowboy’
Marking the first real taste of new music from Goat Girl in a couple of years, the video for new single, ‘Saw Cowboy’, explores greener pastures – I mean vividly green, too. The heavily saturated video is pushed to the point where everything looks like an intense psychedelic trip, but this serves to match the spaced-out and distanced feel of the song. Effortlessly cool shots of a lone rider racing across the horizon of a stark pink landscape and blue sky are cut in with a gunfight between a scarecrow and an octopus, and an impromptu dance at the end that looks like a camera has been dropped into the middle of a cultish ritual. Safe to say, this video is a bizarre one, but mesmerising when paired with a song equally unique in its experimentation. It ends with a highly-danceable fusion of electric guitar, synthwave, and a pulsating beat.
Coach Party – ‘Can’t Talk, Won’t’
Isle of Wight newcomers Coach Party keep things simple with the video for their new song, ‘Can’t Talk, Won’t’. Lead singer Jess Eastwood looks slick finishing off a lollipop, neon lights reflected in her sunglasses, before she struts into what looks to be a social club, converted into the bands private stomping ground for an evening. The setting feels distinctively small-town-British, but each room the camera ventures into is drenched in sharp colours that bring out a late night cinematic feel. Flitting between the band members jamming away and Eastwood’s energetic performance, the song begs to be bellowed triumphantly despite being about repression and self-doubt.
The New Consistent – ‘Turn Off All The Screens’
This long-teased video feels like a major step for up and coming West Midlands artist The New Consistent (real name Ben Ramsay), who has become adept at combining deep spoken word lyricism with introspective beats. ‘Turn Off All The Screens’ feels like the background music of an adventure game you can appreciate most late at night: a solid beat over the top of a melancholic soundscape. The choice of shooting the video inside an arcade feels very apt, and the decision to trade longer singing-into-camera shots for pickups and choppy editing is a smart one, adding to the anxious energy of the music and words. There’s a charming chemistry on display, with moments of silliness interjected. A song about a serious subject, but with a delightful video.
Phoebe Bridgers – ‘I Know The End’ (Late Night with Seth Meyers Performance)
The one positive of social distancing preventing your favourite artists from performing live on late night shows is the ability for them to film pre-recorded performances that can dabble a bit more in creative camerawork and effects. Phoebe Bridgers does exactly this on her performance of Punisher closing track, ‘I Know The End’, filmed for Late Night with Seth Meyers.
The performance takes place inside an empty theatre – a knowing wink at the absurdity of the current global situation robbing us of the ability to attend venues and gigs. The camera follows Bridgers as she moves through the hallways backstage, then onto the stage. A warm glow is supplied from the numerous lights placed around the set, before Bridgers is bathed in blue light, as she is elevated onto the stage. The beautiful crescendo of the song is paired with almost apocalyptic imagery of Bridgers twirling around in the aisle of the deserted stalls, as her bandmates crumble behind her on the projected screen. This performance is creatively charged, and has moments of spatial humour (the green room sign reading ‘the end is here’ with a giant arrow), and shows what an artist can do despite current limitations.
