Tame Impala is part of the neo-psychedelia movement launched in the 80's which was very heavily influenced by the psychedelic rock of the 1960s. 'Elephant' is one of Tame Impala's most successful songs and is also one of their only songs to be made into a music video.
The video itself is very conventional of the psychedelic rock genre, it feaures elements of mise-en-scene and editing which are very typical of the genre.
Apart from a few mid-shots of performers and their instruments, the mise-en-scene consists largely of work done in post-production. Like many psychedelic rock music videos, the theme of psychedelic drugs is evident.
Halucenagenic drugs often produce visuals which intensify the RGB model, this effect can be compared with when someone moves closer to a T.V screen and red, green and blue sub-pixels are seen to create the final image. This is one of the effects the video has tried to create by using the 'RGB split' effect. Furthermore, image distortion has been applied throughout to create halucenagenic effects, the use of a repeater, kaleidascope and infinity mirror effect for example multiplies the image to create a series of smaller images receiding further into the distance.
How 'Elephant' uses kaleidescope/repeater effect to distort images in the video
An example of the MV using both the RGB model
and the mirror effect to create
halucenogenic images
There seems to be a lack of an actual setting in the video, due to the psychadellic themes much of the original image is being hidden by layers of other colours and clips in the foreground, I believe the audience is to asume the band are simply playing in a studio, as well as this almost all of the light is being shone onto the performers rather than anything in the background. This is unconventional of neo-psychedelic music videos as most of the genre's music videos made in the 1980's show a clear or at least visible setting usually used to establish a connection with the lyrics. This is suggested by videos such as 'Echo and the Bunnymen's
'The Killing Moon', whose song references the the idea of meeting someone 'under the moon, in the night'. This is clearly depicted by the use of a moon at nightime in the sky of the set. Tame Impala's video seems more inspired by the traditional 1960-70's psychadelic music video which use bright colours and stock footage in a way that conceptually responds to the lyrics. This is clearly inspired by videos such as 'Money' by Pink Floyd, which as a way to respond to the political and economical themes and values of the lyrics, they used various clips and stock footage of money, luxurious items and examples of suffering in the world as a result of poverty.
Cross-Media case study
In this case-study I will analyse and compare the music videos of two psychadelic rock bands, one contemporary and the other from the 1970s. The first MV I will look at is 'Elephant' by Tame Impala, and the second is 'Killing Moon' by Echo and the Bunnymen. Both are psychedelic rock bands but are influenced by different movements in the genre.
Evidence of the moon reflected in water in the music video, 'The Killing Moon'
Examples of the stock footage and images used in Pink Floyd's 'Money' music video
The editing used is in 'Elephant' is very responsive to the lyrics, each straight cut is synced with the beat and rythym of the song, this is again reminiscent of early psychadelic rock movements in the 1960-70's with music videos such as 'Money'. A mid/long shot of the singer seems to act as a motif for each time a new verse starts. This is evidence of a conventional editing technique for music videos, but because of the effects layered on the footage, each shot of the singer is different, distinguishing this genre of music from others. This is further exemplified by the montage editing in the song, conventionally during the instrumentals of
pop music videos
the singer might
start dancing or
typically for
independent
rock videos,
footage of the
band members
playing their
instruments. This
is suggested by
Metronomy's
'The Look' music
video which
shows the band
members simply
playing during
the instrumental.
Each start of the verse straight cuts to a shot of the lead singer, these shots vary in how they have been distorted and coloured
Footage of the band, 'Metronomy' in music video, 'The Look' during an instrumental section of the song
Echo and the Bunnymen became an influential band in the neo-psychadelia movement in the 1980s, while Tame Impala's music are part of the neo-psychadelic genre, there are major elements in their music video which highlight how the genre has evolved through the years. Echo and the Bunnymen's 'The Killing Moon' is one of the bands hit singles and is also widely considered to be their best song. Similiarly to 'Elephant', 'The Killing Moon' features conventions of both a conceptual and performance music video. For example, the first shot is of a close-up of a crescent moon reflected in water with the sound effect of wind. As the song begins, the video straight cuts to a shot of what appears to be a ship covered in ribbons and sheets. This abstract structure coupled with the fact that the video hasn't so far introduced any characters to the audience implies that the music video is conceptual. The third shot is a mid-shot of a light swinging from left to right before the song starts and the video cuts to a close-up of the lead singer Ian Mcculloch. From this shot, there is a clearer understanding of the setting of the music video through the lighting on Mcculloch's face. For instance, an artificial yellow/orange light is moving from one side of his face to the other from above him, this comes from the swinging light we saw in the previous shot. Another static blue light is shining on the right side of his face which supposedly comes from outside of the room he is singing in as the previous shots of the boat in the wind was lit by a blue light. These lighting effects appear to be unconventional of neo-psychadelic-punk music videos especially of the time. For instance, music videos such as Art of Noise's 'Close' use no particular light source, rather, natural light is used instead to create an urban yet surreal feeling. The abstract imagery of 'The Killing Moon' can be understood metaphorically by looking closely at the relatiosnip the images have with the lyrics. For instance, 'Fate, up against your will...he will wait until you give yourself to him', it seems the lyrics are talking about someone who is unwilling to give up his life, 'him' therefore is a personification of death. The boat might therefore be influenced by greek mythology as a boat was used to take the dead to the afterlife. The fact that death is 'waiting' is established through the change in weather of the video, like seasons changing. For insatnce, towards the end of the video the boat forms icicles and the colour of the set turns from a red to a dark blue (summer to winter), before snow begins to fall.
Natural white light is used in this 'Close' music video to create a gritty, urban feel for the music video
In the context of todays culture of pop music and hip hop, a star persona has become a marketable item, for instance, the sexual nature and character of Beyonce in her videos is marketable to a wide audience as the music may appeal to girls while the objectification of her body will be victim to a male gaze according to Laura Mulvey.
However, the idea of a marketable persona has been completely challenged in 'Elephant'. As explained, the singer makes an appearence in the video as nothing more than a motif for singing a new verse. A lot of psychadelic rock, especially that of the 1960s often consisted of metaphorical or conceptual lyrics which could not be immediately understood by it's audience, this would be further exemplified by a music video which would respond to the sound of the music through colours and images. This implies that this genre is more about the music rather than the performers or performance. This is consistent with psychadelic music of the 1960s with bands such as 'The Beatles', and especially 'Pink Floyd' whose album 'The Wall' (1979) was made into a feature length musical also called 'The Wall' (1982, Parker), the film had very little diegetic dialogue and consisted entirely of symbolic imagery and animation to establish the sound and lyrics of the songs. This reveals the influence of post-modernism within the genre.
A shot from the film 'The Wall' (1982, Parker) showing the famous 'hammer march'
The artificial light swinging left to right above the lead singer
Ian Mcculloch, the lead singer, being lit by the blue light outside and the artificial light swinging above him
The statue that the video straight cuts back to regualarly throughout the video, it appears to be a sailing ship covered in ribbons and sheets
Colour is used extensively in this video as a way to convey meaning to the audience, for example, the colour of the set starts as blue and then changes to red. Finally towards the end the colour blue returns which seems to trigger snow to fall on the boat-like strucure. The use of colour like this in psychedelic music videos seems inspired a lot by 'The Beatles', who, in
their music videos, experimented a lot with the change of hue or colour, while mostly done using animation, it shows how this use of colour to convey messages to it's audience has evolved from the original psychedelic movement of the 1960s. A prime example of a music video by 'The Beatles' which uses this effect is the official promo of 'Lucy in the sky with diamonds', this is a decade defining video for the psychedelic era. The post-modernist approach used by 'Echo and the Bunnymen' can be extended to their use of symbols in the 'The Killing Moon'. Symbols such as the large boat-like structure and what appears to be a woman in a long dress walking along the boat seem influenced by how The Beatles use symbols in their videos to convey themes of drug use. While 'Echo and the Bunnymen' may not be using these symbols to also identify with the use of hallucinogens, they could be interpreted as part of a dream sequence.
Therefore, 'Echo and the Bunnymen' and 'Tame Impala' are similar in that they have made videos clearly influenced by the mise-en-scene from videos of the 1960's psychedelic genre.
During the video, the light changes colour from blue to red
Symbolism: the snow on the boat, the woman in the dress
Two consecutive shots from the music video for 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' showing the change in colour. Often thought to sinify the halucinogen; LSD, the video exemplifies the use of symbolism in the 1960s psychedelic genre.
Tame Impala's 'Elephant' comes from the album 'Lonerism' which was released in 2012.
The front cover is a picture of the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, France. The picture was personally taken by lead singer Kevin Parker and has expressed in great detail what the image means. He states that the image ties into themes of isolation and therefore 'Lonerism' as there is a metal gate separating the viewer from the gardens on the other side of the fense. The use of album art to semantically express the meaning of the album title is conventional of the rock music genre. This is evident in other album art including one of the most iconic, 'Abbey Road' by The Beatles. The front image is of the four band members walking along a zebra crossing on Abbey Road. This symbolically tied into the title as the album was recorded at Abbey Road studios and therefore the image is about their 'journey through Abbey Road'. This also provides evidence for a post-modernist influence on the album as Kevin Parker has said that he listened to bands such as The Beatles when he was young. The font of the album seems consistent with their other albums, for instance the same font was used for the title and band name on their previous album, 'Innerspeaker'. The text is on what looks like a sticker someone has stuck on. The sticker is a cream colour which matches the colours in the photo. This incoperation of a title onto the album in this fashion is typical of album art in this genre. In fact, it is conventional of most genres to incorperate titles onto the image through matching colours. Examples include that of Lana Del Rey's album, 'Born To Die' whose title is blue, matching the most prominent colour in the photo. However, psychedelic or art/experimental albums have proven to break these conventions, for instance if the sticker on the Lonerism album had been any bigger, it would resemble David Bowie's 'The Next Day' album. The album art is a large white square with the words 'The Next Day' on the front of an album photo of one of Bowie's much earlier albums, 'Heroes'.
'Lonerism' - Front
Lana Del Ray's 'Born to Die'
David Bowie's 'The Next Day'
The back cover of the 'Lonerism' album breaks the conventions of
conventional album art as the image is completely different from that of the front. While the front photo depicts Le Jardin du Luxembourg, the back photo is a photograph of a room cluttered with musical instruments. In the middle is a man lying down playing the guitar with his head and shoulders cut off at the bottom. While both images are completely different, a semantic reading of a possible link between the two reveals that while the front photo depicts where the band got their inspiration for the music, the back depicts the technical/practical side of their music. This is a typical convention of psychadelic albums to have two photos on the album with no visual link. Another example includes the Bee Gees 'First' album in 1967 when they where involved in the psychedelic movement of the 1960's. While the front cover depicts the band members with drawings underneath typical of the genre, the back album art looks at the band members in the recording studio, making their music. Therefore the same dynamic applies in both instances.
'Lonerisms' back also has a tracklist which is another convention of album art, while the font of the tracklist is different from the title font, similarly to the front, the colours used are a cream background with black font. This consistency creates a visual theme for the album. Other typical conventions is the use of the marketing aspects of the album such as a bar code on the side, the name of the band's lable 'Modular Recordings'.
The Bee Gees '1st' album showing the bands influence in the front, 'psychedelic imagery' and in the back the practical production of their music.
Like the front cover, the Interior front image is also a photo of Le Jardin du Luxembourg however in this case, the weather is bad, there are no people around, and this time there is no black fence in the image,
'Lonerism', Back
implying that the photographer has walked inside the gardens to take a photo. Kevin Parker doesn't talk about this image so much, however, upon the first reading it may be talking about the struggle to avoid isolation or 'Lonerism' even when there are no barriers (black fence). The similar image and potentially metophorical statement to the front cover allows the album have a recurring theme. A recurring theme for any album is conventionally typical, not just in the psychedelic genre, but of all genres. This convention can be illustrated by a number of artists, both mainstream and independent, for instance; Pharrell's 'Girl' album has two similar but different images used for the front and interior front album. While the images have similar themes, the slight differences create slighlty different meanings for the two images.
The front and interior front album for 'Pharrell's 'Girl' album
The image used for the disc is also a photo of Le Jardin du Luxembourg. This allows the album's recurring theme to be even further developed. At first viewing, it seems to be a photo of a pathway surrounded by trees, however upon closer inspection, it is revealed that we are actually looking at a reflected image. This has been done through a mirror effect very reminiscent of Tame Impala's previous album, 'Innerspeaker' which also used a relfected image to give the illusion of mountains on top of a lake or river. These
similarities allow the band to have a stylistic theme rather than just the album, this is further illustrated by the use of the same font in both albums.
The disc for Tame Impala's 'Lonerism' album
Tame Impala's 'Innerspeaker' album
The front cover for Echo & the Bunnymen album, 'Ocean Rain'
The album art for the front cover of the Echo and the Bunnymen album, 'Ocean Rain' is a photograph of the four members of the band in a rowing boat which was taken inside Carnglaze Caverns, Liskeard, Cornwall. The band have been recorded as saying that they 'wanted to continue the elemental theme of the previous three albums'. This allows the band to have a recurring theme rather than just the album. This is illustrated in the previous albums talked about, as, similarly to 'Ocean Rain', they all have themes to do with nature this is similar to Tame Impala's recurring use of the reflection filter and same font for their titles. The use of small album titles is conventional of the psychedelic genre, especially when compared to the small titles used in 'Lonerism'.
The front cover of the three albums before 'Ocean Rain', from the top; 'Crocodiles', 'Heaven Up Here' and 'Porcupine'.
The back cover of the 'Ocean Rain' album has a very conventional design and theme. This is evident as it uses a similar image to that used on the front, almost as if the back image is a continuation of the photo at the front. To use
a recurring theme in an album through the visuals and colour is a typical convention evident in a number of albums both in and outside of the psychedelic genre. For instance, 'Innerspeaker', Tame Impala's 1st album had a back which consisted of an image very similar to that of the front. Also, mainstream albums such as Bastille's 'Bad Blood' has a photo taken in the same location for both the front and back covers, much like 'Ocean Rain'.
The back cover of the album is also conventional in the sense that it has a tracklist, barcode and the name of the record label, 'Warner Bros Coorperation', all of which are in the same font to that used for the front cover.
The front and back cover album art of Bastille's 'Bad Blood' and Tame Impala's 'Innerspeaker' album
The Interior back panel is similar to
the various themes of influence that albums of the psychedelic rock genre tend to depict. The photograph shows some men playing violins in a recording studio, it is also an old photograph, seemingly from before the 1980s. We are therefore left to conclude that the picture represents Echo and the Bunnymen's influences when making 'Ocean Rain. As mentioned, to show an image such as this one depicting artistic inspiration is very conventional of the genre however it is unconventional with regards to where it is positioned. In comparison, 'Lonerism' depicted their influence on the front cover through the 'Le Jardin' photograph.
The inside back cover uses a photograph which is consistent with the theme and style by using another photo of the Carnglaze Caverns.
The inside back cover of 'Ocean Rain'
Digipack Research
