Oasis bring to life an endearing tale in the early 90s in which a random beautiful woman from San Francisco saved the band from a breakup, Coldplay show some political teeth, Grizzly Bear bring the home video vibes and more, in the 29th week of the year’s Best Lyric Vids.
Oasis – ‘Talk Tonight‘
An old b-side/(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? deluxe gem about the possible breakup of the band gets some modern-era love, bringing to life Noel Gallagher’s adventures in despondent rock star mode with a fairy-tale of a relationship with a girl he met backstage in San Francisco in the early 90s; a sinewy sunset of a trip down memory lane with some animation that’ll make anybody swoon, artist or not:
Coldplay – ‘Miracles (Someone Special)‘
Despite the fact that Coldplay can’t show their teeth for the life of them since 2002’s A Rush a Blood to the Head, Big Sean‘s set of bars on this uber-whine pop nugget ain’t half-bad, and the photo direction on all the real and fake nostalgia popping out of their frames do this tale of the American immigration experience plenty of justice that is a combo-package for something of which Coldplay actually are showing their teeth about — the current political scene:
Grizzly Bear – ‘Four Cypresses‘
In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen said he wrote this song from the, “perspective of a homeless person sleeping in the driveway of a place he was staying in L.A., but broadened to encompass his thoughts about the refugee experience and life during wartime.” With the visual treatment here we get a montage of old home videos dressed in psychedelic editing cuts and really like half a set of lyrics that a lyric video should contain, but nevertheless, it’s a thoroughly entertaining voyeuristic lens on the Grizzly Bear sound:
Beth Ditto – ‘In and Out‘
The former Gossip frontwoman set off on her own to cut a new record, venturing off down a more pop road with Fake Sugar. Spawned from a cartoon garden universe, this big androgynous potato looking creature interacts with a bunch of plant and woodland friends, paralleling the lovelorn narrative with an animation that becomes much more Adult Swim than Nickelodeon if you wait for it:
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Jack Johnson – ‘My Mind is for Sale‘
Ain’t all broken hearted bro-sagas and surfboards for Jack, dude’s got some political jokes up his sleeve. Spun together from building blocks his kids helped him make for “$0,” this first single on his forthcoming album, All the Light Above It Too, due out this fall, is a quirky joy if you’re into stop-animation and Johnson’s beach-jam take it easy, love nothing approach to the current administration:
