2. Metronomy – Love Letters
This music video is for the song that
has the same name as the bands
album that was released around the
same time. This is a good way of
them promoting each other. It was
directed by Michel Gondry, who is
known for his abstract approach to
directing films/music videos.
3. Language
• The language of the song fits very well with the theme of love
letters, as you would expect. ‘Love Letters’ is a line repeated at
the start and throughout the song, the lyrics are in short lines
which only last 4-5 words, which creates a beat of the song
which is a style familiar to the band Metronomy. By recreating
this iconic style that the fans like it’s something they know will
work. But also that people want to hear. The song is about love
but not a conventional slow love ballad or cheesy pop song,
which I think also puts across that they band are trying to do
something different and unusual, which fans of the ‘indie’ genre
will appreciate if they're looking for something different to usual.
The repetition in the song makes is memorable and easy to
sing along too, without it becoming annoying because its mixed
in with different speed of how it being sung and a change of the
music in which the person is singing along too.
4. Ideology
• The whole ideology of the music video is that the singer, is
talking about someone who has he has fallen in love with,
trying to explain that they have got him wanting to write
love letters. The song even though its about love is
different to conventional love songs, the style is of that
released in the 1970’s pop era, with a range of different in
the instruments used as in live recording, as well as
electronic sounding elements.
5. Institution
• Metronomy are signed to an independent music label called
‘Because Music’ which are based in Paris and London. The fact
the band are signed to an independent label sends a good
message out to fans. They’re not willing to sell out to be signed
to a major label, even as they're growing in popularity and
getting new fans. The song Love Letters was premiered on
BBC radio 1 in 2014, which provides evidence that they have
become more popular. But it also introducing the band to a new
audience that may not have heard them before. The idea of the
whole band overall is that they believe heavily in live
performance to see fans, even if it to small venues in many
different locations. This is popular because fans are interested
in having music in the indie/alternative genre to be more
meaningful or interesting compared to regular pop artists songs
who are singing to try and make money, to then release
another song.
6. Audience
• The audience for this music video are the fans of the band
Metronomy. But my having the director as Michel Gondry this
attracts an audience who are fans of his work, immediately
widening the audience to beyond just fans of the music. The
aspects of live performance in the music video is good for the
target audience because they are interested in seeing the
performance aspect of playing the instruments and singing.
This is achieved by having the whole band on screen in an
abstract style, but still the well known live performance aspect.
The song is different to usual though, so audience will be
expecting something unusual and different when they decide to
watch the music videos. Lots of colour and objects attract the
audience though as it makes you want to look more and watch
to see what is going on.
7. Representation
• The music video along side the song represents the band
as not taking themselves too seriously and wanting to
create something that is a twist on a style of music,
constantly incorporating new slants on things. The use of
colour and humour in the video shows the band in a
positive light, as they are trying to entertain the audience
and not have the whole spotlight on one particular singer
or going over the top on live performance. The music
video represents them as interesting. There is a lot of
camera movement (even though not of editing) which
keeps the interest. They're not just mining the song to the
camera. They all involved in performing it.
