WEEKEND VIDEO
The black-and-white video for Deerhunter’s “Helicopter,” from the band’s forthcoming full-length Halcyon Digest, features frontman Bradford Cox mouthing the song’s lyrics directly into the camera, as obscured, static-coated footage is layered on top of his face. It’s not the most creative idea for a video, but the visual juxtaposition of the straightforward and the vague fits the band’s constantly evolving aesthetic very well: shimmering pop melodies couched in plenty of headswimming atmospherics and noise.
“Helicopter” is the latest realization of that aesthetic, with a slow, dreamy structure far removed from the stuck-on-the-dial pop swagger of Halcyon Digest‘s first single, “Revival.” The tinkling, sugar-sweetened opening notes quickly give way to a valley of shoegazed reverb, evoking the genre’s sense of ambience and erotic confusion. Cox’s voice has never been more clear-sounding and pristine, as he shares evocative lyrics about faith (“Could you pray for us / We know he loves you the best”) and isolation (“No one cares for me / I keep no company”). He doesn’t remain untouched for very long, though, as a cacophony of ambient sounds and watery noise creeps up and overtakes him near the song’s end. Ugly beauty: Very few are doing it as well as these guys.
Very well written blog…