Arcade Fire are in my ‘can do no wrong’ box right now. Their new video for ‘We Used to Wait’ is really intriguing; just because it kind of pushes the boundaries of what a video actually is these days.
It’s an interactive film called ‘The Wilderness Downtown’, (which is a lyric from the song) in conjunction with Google Chrome. You know, the spangly new browser that you probably should download but can’t be arsed.
You type in your childhood address and then let the magic technology take you on a trip back there using Google Earth and Streetview wizardry. It actually left me a little moved.
The video starts up with this kid running, and then it takes you on a pop-up journey (literally… pop ups everywhere. But in a nice way) where he runs through your actual street!
So there you are. The house I was born in! I don’t live there now. I also did the video with my actual house now and you can see my dad’s car and a Tesco van outside :P Which amused me.
And then you get to write your younger self a postcard. Which was kind of cool. You’ve got a little bit of time to do this and then the video continues… but you have to watch it to find out what happens next. It’s cool.
You get to finish the postcard off after and send it off to The Wilderness; I think there’s a possibility it can get used in a tour projection or something.
It’s a really lovely concept; but Arcade aren’t shy to this sort of thing, their video for the song Neon Bible was an interactive number. I remember hearing that they didn’t want to release any videos at all for Neon Bible th album but I’m not entirely sure why. Possibly a statement against the PR/Promotion machine that bands are a slave to but who knows.
It definitely seems to me that in the age of super-interactivity, sharing and social media, music videos broadcast on our tellys seem a bit… outdated. Can you think of any other bands using new media as a means of music video? There was one where you manipulated the flow of ‘ink’ which ebbed and flowed with the song but I can’t for the life of me remember it. Irritating.
Go check out The Wilderness Downtown. And if you can see them live, do not hesitate.
