It's odd to say this, but my favorite music video director right now has not done a traditional music… until now. Director Vincent Moon has complied an amazing body of work called The Take-Away Shows over at the French music blog La Blogotheque. These live, unusually staged performances — typically in Paris — strips away all the artifice of traditional music videos in favor of single-take, organic and usually acoustic performances. Some of my faves include:
- Grizzly Bear performing "The Knife" A Capella through the streets of Paris.
- Arcade Fire doing "Neon Bible" en route to what you think will be the stage, but winds up being the audience for "Wake Up."
- Zach Condon and Beirut letting "Nantes" slowly unfurl and grow.
So, it will be interesting to see if those elements of discovery and spontaneity can translate to a "traditional" music video that was just shot for R.E.M. "Supernatural Superserious" will support the legendary band's new album Accelerate, due out April 1. Photo at right is of frontman Michael Stipe and director Vincent Moon.
artist: R.E.M.
song: "Supernatural Superserious"
label: Warner Bros.
director(s): Vincent Moon
production co: Dig For Fire
