Video: His Name Is Alive: "Come to Me"
Animator and director Stephen W. Brandt invokes the charm and seafaring whimsy of post-millennial animated classics like the Joel Trussell-directed clip for Jason Forrest's "War Photographer" in this visual supplement for "Come to Me", a track off His Name Is Alive's forthcoming LP Xmmer. The tune, with pep that puts it a million miles from the Björk lullaby of the same name, and with more than a titular similarity to the Cure's "Close to Me", may just as well be from last year's fine Detrola. Here, Brandt's pulsating patchwork ocean-- a sort-of chilled-out compliment to Stanley Donwood's agit-buzzword bricklaying on Hail to the Thief?-- syncs well with the slightly jaunty horn-inflected rhythm. Meanwhile the folk story, concerning a humanoid and some animals marooned at sea, is a natural if obvious choice to accompany the pan-global folk instrumentation. (And thus Warn Defever's quest to inhabit every musical style known to man continues!)
While the narrative's pace ultimately lags behind the song's, it's a lovely piece on the whole-- and it's certainly nice to see the traditionally reviled snake in a heroic role. Perhaps that rat movie started a trend? (Full disclosure: Brandt is a friend of a Pitchfork editor.)
[from Xmmer, due 09/18/07 on Silver Mountain]