It's such a simple video, mostly focused on singer Mark Hollis' lip syncing, with interesting shots of him standing in front of projected footage of himself and band shots peppered in, but Hollis challenges the straightforward performance of a lip sync you might usually find in a music video. Cuts shift between lip sync performances in varying expressions, usually emotional extremes. This creates a strange, sort of haunting discordance between the unchanging vocal of the song and the rapidly shifting emotional expressions of the visuals.
Hollis' face is transfixing. The sound of a car braking at the beginning of the song reflects the stuttered shock and awe I feel watching this video. Watching his face as he laughs, grimaces, explodes in rage, cries, all cut together so they are almost happening at once. We see every facet of human feeling smashed together into something that does feel, somehow, like watching a car crash. Something accelerating chaotically.
The video has its humour, its ambling oddness, and its striking, emotive jabbing. For all these elements, it has struck me, every time I've watched it, as something unwieldy. Simple yet so dense. It reliably brings my tear ducts to attention. And it so unequivocally beautiful to me.
Coming here nearly 2 years after this post to say this... I get it. I totally get it. This song has been on my radar since I was a kid (in the 80s) but I only saw the video for the first time this week. Wow, what a revelation! I felt what I can only describe as a deep rush of love towards Mark Hollis. It moved me in a way that I cannot describe or remember feeling like before over anything. It was quite bizarre, and very unlike me to have an emotional reaction to something that has no nostalgic connection. Like you say, it's the face, the emotional range and how quickly it changes. I love his little head bob too! R.I.P Mark Hollis
ReplyDeleteIt's just so lovely. Glad you're right there with me :'-)
Deletebrilliant guy
DeleteI was 4 years out of high school, in my first year of college, having decided to wait a few years before pursuing a degree when this album came out. I loved it immediately. It was the first music I'd ever heard that I felt challenged me intellectually. To me it is musical calculus, the most elegant math expressed in sonic code. The more I listened to it, the more I came to appreciate the love, precision and intelligence that went into this excellent recording. Some called it a significant departure from Talk Talk's earlier music. However, it was not a departure, instead it was a significant leap forward that promised similar progressions with each new album (a promise kept with uncompromising integrity). The artistic trajectory of Picasso, moving forward from one movement to another, is an apt comparison to the journey of Talk Talk. The most amazing track from the last 3 brilliant albums has to be After the Flood on Laughing Stock. The combination of introspective piano music, Mark’s haunting voice and the gritty, visceral noise driving forward the flight of the music is unique and deeply moving.
ReplyDeleteIt stuns me that Mark Hollis walked away from music, as he communicated in this language better and more eloquently than most other musicians in modern history. He did walk away, though, and we are the poorer for it. I held out hope that he would return with another unexpected solo album, or maybe even reform Talk Talk after his children were grown and out of the house, but that was not to be. His death hit me like Steve Jobs' did. Both were icons and leaders who brought the world kicking and screaming into a new age. Hollis' legacy lives on in many groups and thankfully those members credit Talk Talk, and more specifically him, as a powerful influence in their musical journey. I'm just glad that a new generation might experience Talk Talk as a result of these accolades. I remember how wonderful it was to experience Talk Talk evolve, but it is probably a close second in euphoria to discover them for the first time. Thanks, Lilly, for reminding the world how fantastic and influential this group really was.
I'd never heard this song or seen this video until last week. I'm transfixed by both. What a let down to find out ten minutes later that Mark Hollis was no longer on this earthly plane. I agree with the sentiments of the writer and Commenter.
ReplyDeleteLove this video. Love finding others that appreciate him as well. What is he saying at the beginning?
ReplyDeleteHola Lilly! Me encanto tu publicación, tienes razón en todo lo que dices y es lo mismo que siento cada vez que veo este vídeo y no puedo dejar de verlo. Una obra de arte de todas las expresiones y sentimientos humanos y solamente podía hacerlo un gran artista como Mark Hollis. Me encanta su voz, su estilo , su arte musical, y también el colorido de su vestuario, En serio, tanto el cantante como el grupo dan para mucho de que hablar. hablar, hablar y hablar.
ReplyDelete