Indie Rock Research - Music Videos

Hozier - 'Work Song'  Music video

The video for Hozier's song 'Work Song' , which is  a single off of his self titled debut album released in 2014. It fits very well with the genre of Indie Rock. Unlike popular music and other similar genres, it is very reserved and calm, and does not look like it was needed to be made on a high budget. This shows that Hozier and his type of music fits in with the genre as with Indie Rock it is about the music more than anything. Hozier is featured throughout the music video, playing the song at a concert which is full of people who fit the image of Indie Rock. The people at the concert, most of them couples, dance a routine in sync, which matches the music and the lyrics being sang. The overall colours and lighting of the video is quite faded and the colours used are dull, but it is effective and looks fitting to the overall tone of the music, which is quite slow.


 Lana Del Rey - 'Blue Jeans'  (Music video)

In the music video for Lana Del Rey's song 'Blue Jeans', a song from her 2012 album 'Born to Die', her second studio album. The video is shot in black and white, and has elements of film noir. The video, like Hozier's, is in no way rushed or fast paced and moves slowly and sensually. There are scenes shot in slow-motion, Lana appears as the man's (Bradley Soileau) love interest, which ends in tragedy. It fits the brooding, dark theme to Indie Rock very well, and critics have described the video to be very moody and retro too. It strays from popular music videos, as it is very dark, set in a swimming pool beside a 1950s style house, which is not following the generic sort of music videos that other genres produce. Her other videos follow this, and while many of them have the dark, brooding theme, they are instantly recognisable to be Lana's videos.


 

Arctic Monkeys - 'Arabella' (Music Video)

Like Lana Del Rey's video, Arctic Monkeys' 'Arabella', from their 2012 album 'AM', is shot entirely in black and white, which seems to be a recurring theme in the genre. It also appears to be set back in time, as the front man of the band Alex Turner said in an interview that the name Arabella partly comes from the name of a 1968 French-Italian actress, who was called Barbarella. Considering this, and seeing the music video, it appears to be set in this time. Also the effects on the video, such as the illusion of a camera rolling, and there are also pauses in certain places of the video. The video fits the genre of Indie Rock, as there are a collection of clips of people at a bar drinking and smoking. It fits the rebellious side Indie Rock has, and with the fashion sense of Arctic Monkeys, especially of Alex Turner, it also fits the genre as it definitely does not follow the mainstream.