Low Fidelity: Music Video Reviews

Music videos out last week:

Code Orange – “Forever”

Director Max Moore (Citizen, Knocked Loose, Counterparts) has returned to direct another brutal, chilling and incredibly disturbing video for Pittsburgh hardcore act Code Orange. Building on the atmosphere and aesthetic created with the 2014 album “I Am King,” the video for “Forever” marks another step forward for one of the genre’s most forward thinking acts.

Most notable with this video is the band’s shift away from an orange, black, grey and green color palette. This video is filmed entirely in black, white, and red, drawing attention to specific aspects of the video, blood and fire especially.

For those reasons, anyone squeamish about blood and violence should keep their distance from this short film, as it features bassist Joe Goldman dragging around a body with the words “I Am King” carved into its forehead, a woman emerging from a bucket of blood as she’s covered in the stuff, and close up shots of someone being violently choked out (which also happens to be the album cover for the band’s newly announced album, also entitled “Forever”).

Fortunately, Moore isn’t one to let the watchers shudder uncomfortably for too long, as there are plenty of aesthetically pleasing shots of red powder and water being thrown through the air and colliding in nice patterns.
All in all, this video is fantastic and anyone who is in need of some groovy, brutal hardcore should not pass it up.

Pill Friends – “Holy Like You”

Self-proclaimed “Christian death-pop” band Pill Friends just dropped a new single called “Holy Like You,” and with it a cheery animated short about sailboats and rain and the ocean and the like.

This all might come as a shock to fans of the band, who have in the past penned songs such as “Satan is Your Master” and “Wearing My Dead Dog’s Skin,” which are not exactly the same fun pop songs one would expect after seeing this new video. However, with this song it seems that Pill Friends have dropped the “lo-fi” title often associated with their name, as this song is well-produced, smooth, not very Satanic, and easy to listen to.

Throughout the video the aforementioned shots of sailboats and the beach are shown through the outline of a swaying character, not unlike the wavy inflatable men you see dancing their souls out outside of gas stations. It helps to give the video a relaxed and dance-able quality, one that I would highly recommend.