for the moment

A friend turned me on to Manchester Orchestra this past week. I'm feeling them out. For the most part, they are a bit too loud for me, but there are some songs that I was able to pick out, the others just don't click; however, that's usually how things go anyway, so I'm not disappointed. On the flip-side, I did discover today some of their music videos and the cinematography is ridiculous. Although I'm feeling lukewarm about the songs themselves, I'm enamored by the videos; and a longing to get back into the darkroom has come on. Their vids, in a way, embody much of the aspects of photography (I'm thinking right now of mostly Polaroid pho-tog) that are fascinating me as of late: the effects of over and under exposure, double exposures, and the beautiful light streaks, along with the other "happy accidents" that result from using expired film, etc. At times there are shots, that if switched from motion picture to static, look as if they had gone through gelatin-silver processing. That's some purdy stuff.

Like signs of true lomographic photography (and I know they aren't photos per say, but it's film, no?) the scenes aren't crisp, rather they show signs of a candid I'm-going-to-shoot-without-over-thinking-aperture-and-shutter-speed kind of mentality. I enjoy how carefree it is (but don't get me wrong, obviously there was an enormous amount of thought that had to go into getting this look, I'm just saying, it doesn't come off that way, as the videos are not shot to give you that full-color, clean-as-a-whistle, picture-perfect, HD effect...you know what I'm saying). Anyway, I dig it--the videos, not necessarily the music. (Although, "I Can Feel a Hot One" is nice on the ears and the chorus "I've got friends in all the right places" (vid #1) does have the ability to get stuck in your head if you let it.)

Cheers.


Manchester Orchestra - I've Got Friends (Official Music Video) - Click here for more amazing videos


Manchester Orchestra - I Can Feel A Hot One (Official Music Video) - Watch a funny movie here