Courtney Barnett Is Clown Of The Year In This Week’s Holy Hunter Of Music Videos
Come March we may at long last secure a full-length LP from the biting wit-wielding Australian singer-songwriter, Courtney Barnett. Conceptualized by the delightfully droll artist herself and then given legs by director Charlie Ford, the video for “Pedestrian At Best” follows Barnett through an afternoon at a carnival where she takes the shape of a floundering clown. As an aside, I’m quite burdened by the opposite of coulrophobia in that I have an intense fascination with clowns. When people ask when I knew my now husband was “the one,” I often reference the time he told me I’d make an outstanding clown - specifically for children’s birthday gatherings. I guess her frankness is infectious.
Described as a portrait of Oklahoma’s “Struckist Subculture,” director Ben Reed’s via celluloid offering for French producer Tchami’s latest earworm mostly reminds me of George Romero’s Knightriders, albeit the storm-chasing version. Despite their striking scars, this particular ragtag group of trading card-worthy electrostatic stalkers is regrettably just a bunch of fictitious muggles. But on the subject of “White Lightning,” this column reaches you on the fifty-sixth anniversary of The Day (after) the Music Died. As a follow-up, I highly recommend George Jones’ version of The Big Bopper-penned ditty.
Hyperbolically said to be metaphoric to the R&B songstress’ own life path, Dawn Richards directs and materializes in the following as an indomitable monochromatic warrior with nothing short of a smoking mohawk (smohawk?) and her dukes up against an imploding universe. With slick animated aid from the digital studio, We Were Monkeys, the outcome is a unique cinematic experience to be viewed on something other than a laptop.
