Eye Candy: Tracy Thorn, Fields, Ben Taylor

Tracy Thorn gives us one of the best of the year, Fields take a look at themselves and Ben Taylor turns heartthrob...


Ben Taylor "Nothing I Can Do"
dir. by Tim Royes
This simple but somewhat endearing video matches the tone of Taylor's songwriting fairly well. The narrative is straightforward enough and the perspective is engaging, but too much time is spent on the cab riding scene, especially since nothing much happens there. Taking a cue from the song, the video imagines the meeting of the "morning" and the "sun" as one between two lovers in bed, with Taylor directing his song at the girl. There is a sense of romantic idealism and the value of dedication, but the video doesn't have much to say otherwise.


Fields "Charming the Flames"
dir. by Minivegas
The director chooses to focus on a theme of reflection with both his camera tricks and his imagery, which underscores both the rejection of vanity and the self-reflective mood of the lyrics. The mirrors also hint at the "fragile" nature of "fate" that the singer speaks of. In many ways it wants to inspire us to run out and do something with ourselves instead of fixing our make-up while the world burns around us.


Tracy Thorn "It's All True"
dir. by Si & Ad
What is so exciting about this video is that it takes risks that pay off. As some keen Antvillers have pointed out, this is a music video that has no close-ups of the singer or shots of anybody lip-syncing the words. There are no visible cuts either, and the choreography is almost all actual human beings moving around - not computer graphics. Furthermore it plays off the minimalistic vibes of the song to establish an almost robotic work environment which is disturbed by the vibrancy of human individualism. It could have been catastrophically boring, but the connections between the images and the song, as well as the overall quality of the music, keep things from becoming dull. The directors focus on the domino effect of the power of expression as it spreads across the room like wildfire. But it isn't simply rooted in a spontaneous need to sing. One of the final images (created with the opened red umbrellas) is of a beating heart at the center of this group. It is human courage and love which has brought them to this point of shared experience - together they create something beautiful.