Results of Ruminations

This is the fourth music video analysis (the others are all found here ). These essays try to use the visual medium to help encode an interpretation that the text both supports and obscures, allowing the director of the music video to provide an additional analytical lens. I'm looking at an artist whose music I stumbled into because of the instrumental work that she's best known for. The album, Shatter Me , features the eponymous track with singer Lzzy Hale, even though most of the tracks on Lindsey Stirling's records don't have a lot of vocals. There's a soft spot in my heart for Stirling's stuff because it is the music that most galvanizes me when I'm trying to write. I'm almost afraid of listening to it for fear that its power will be broken, but whenever a track from Shatter Me comes into my playlist, I find my ability to focus is heightened. (I have a hypothesis for why this happens, but it's immaterial here.) The Set Up This is the musi...

The third of my music video essays, I'm going after a band that I don't know at all, Highly Suspect. In fact, I only had their new music video, "My Name is Human", pop up in my YouTube recommendations list because a student had recommended the song to me. This one is '90s grunge released in 2016, so it's a genre that I'm familiar with and listened to a lot as a kid. Nevertheless, I'm tackling a band that I've never listened to, am not familiar with their discography, and, at the time of writing, have only seen the music video a couple of times (because it is so new). Additionally, this one has some swears in it, which I'm not usually down with. There's something in this song and music video, though, and so I'm going to break from my typical MO and let the f-bombs drop. As always, I do recommend watching the video whilst reading the lyrics.  The Set Up Here's the video: And here are the lyrics : Okay I'm feeling the...

The second of my "music video essays", I'm exploring the single from Red Hot Chili Peppers' newest album, The Getaway , "Dark Necessities". As I did before, I'm posting the video and the lyrics here on the essay, and encourage you to watch and read along. In the case of the Peppers, it's always a good idea to have the lyrics handy, as the lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, has a tendency of mumbling and/or pronouncing words uniquely to create a particular effect--or he's super high, either possibility is there.  The Set Up Here's the video: And here are the lyrics : Coming out to the light of day We got many moons than a deeper place So I keep an eye on the shadow's smile To see what it has to say You and I both know Everything must go away Ah, what do you say? Spinning off, head is on my heart It's like a bit of light and a touch of dark You got sneak attacked from the zodiac But I see your eyes spark Keep the breeze and go Blow...

This is the first of a series of essays in which I look at music videos as an avenue to expanding the meaning of a song. Thanks to friends who have sent me dozens of recommendations, I have a larger quantity of possibilities than I have time to rewatch and analyze them. Nevertheless, I hope that I can dig something out that people enjoy, even if their suggestion didn't make the cut. I'm starting with an easy one to try to get myself situated. I selected Death Cab For Cutie's "I Will Possess Your Heart". Below are the video and the lyrics. This particular video is over 8 minutes long, but I think you need to watch it in its entirety before going on. The Set Up I've embedded the YouTube version of the song for you to watch. Again, it's a little bit on the long side, but it needs to be watched, not simply listened to. And, for convenience's sake, the lyrics ( found here ): How I wish you could see the potential, the potential of you and me It...