The Merging of Human Faces With Animation

So when you read the title of this blog post, you probably had something come to  mind...but I'll bet it wasn't this! This is an official video for a song by a well-known-in-New-York-City-but-not-the-Midwest artist, and she chose a medium that somehow really fits the song.

ANIMATED VIDEO

This is a very personal pick by me because Leah Siegel has been, for ten years or maybe more, one of my favorite recording artist/songwriter/singer/guitarist/performers. I happened to discover her on MySpace when I was using it a lot for music networking and also for finding new and interesting artists and bands. I'm a huge fan and have all of her recordings. She's amazing, in my opinion. She has a voice that you either love or hate. I happen to love it, as well as her songwriting and her amazing execution of her creative ideas.

This music video for her song "A Day At The River (With You And Your Lover)" is creepy and strange—unnerving. It's like the characters are old, broken down dolls or puppets with human faces. Then there are the craggy trees and spider webs everywhere. There is a lot of interesting stuff going on! The description on the Youtube page is, "New York City's singer/songwriter Leah Siegel propels us into a fantasmagorical world where puppets live, love, and rock in this groundbreaking music video." I love it, and I want to get other opinions because I'm obviously quite biased when it comes to artists I love. I think the video is really creative and achieved what she was going for. It's such an upbeat sounding song musically and rhythmically, but the lyrics are so dark and sad; the story is dark and also pretty bitter! She sings, "Everyone knows that it's done. Everyone knows but me. Everyone knows but me."

One of my favorite lines of the song: "Oh, what a lovely day. The river was rank with your betrayal. How sweet of you to let me spend the day with you and your lover."

Another of my favorite lines: "Drag the river for my heart. Search in the deep and search the dark. And if you happen to retrieve it, leave it by the riverside, bury it below, tombstone of my pride. A sacrificial gift of love but not for mine...keep it for you and your lover..." Pretty bitter, I'd say. And, the video somehow portrays that bitterness disguised with somewhat happy things happening on the outside. The contrasting elements illustrate the mixed feelings one has when in love with someone who turns out to be in love with someone else.

Here is Leah performing the same song live at the Bowery Electric in NYC, in case you're interested.

LIVE PERFORMANCE

One more song, if these grab you at all. This is probably my favorite song by Leah Siegel. It's called "Pin Down," and I find it hauntingly beautiful.  

PIN DOWN 

Here are some screenshots of the animated video.

 

OK, one more. This is a public service announcement for which Leah was asked to write a song. It's not animation; it's time lapse. It shows a woman who has AIDS who agreed to be videotaped every day for 90 days. From the vimeo.com page: "This is a PSA that we did out of South Africa. It promotes a drug that can reverse the effects of the AIDS virus, in the most prevalent strain of the virus..." It's pretty remarkable to watch.

PSA VIDEO

Please tell me what you think about the first video or anything else on this post. Thanks!