A new video from KCRW shows the skin of frontman Britt Daniel being edited away in Photoshop to the tune of “Do I Have To Talk You Into It.” The video harkens back to that early social justice campaign consisting of videos that show how companies manipulate peoples’ bodies to make them more appealing to consumers. The campaign was successful and eventually led to mainstream success for the plus-sized model. Spoon, whether playing with this idea or not, came up with a wildly different video using the same tools as these ads.
The footage shows a screen capture of Daniel being messed with on Photoshop. Using the eraser tool, the editor does things like erase Daniel’s sunglasses and taking away his eyes, before beginning to remove the skin (ultimately with the wooden-framed Ray-Ban-esque shades intact). The editor does a lot before deciding on a skinless Daniel. The music doesn’t necessarily correlate to the footage as is traditional in music videos, but it doesn’t need to here. The camera flits around to different angles and close-ups of Daniel’s face as the editor pulls moves like morphing the lead singer into a wolf.
Daniel (vocals, guitar); Jim Eno (drums), Rob Pope (bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), and Alex Fischel (keyboard, guitar) take it away in this live radio performance. After making music together for a quarter of a century, the group has mastered its sound and its ability to play as a unit. The guitar riff suggests something Paul McCartney might’ve done with Wings, sort of similar to parts of “Band on the Run.” However, Daniel’s voice has a raspiness that McCartney’s lacks, giving the piece a bit of edge. Sometimes Daniel’s voice can sound like what Chris Martin’s voice would sound like if he were a little older and smoked a pack a day. The way Daniel emphasizes the lyrics toward the end of each line sounds almost like a child throwing a tantrum–that moment when the child’s voice is not strong enough to reach past a certain volume, so it cracks. Daniel accomplishes this sound in a way that goes nicely with the instruments and that sounds good, of course. The harsh treble of the guitar complements the growl of Daniel’s voice. The piano uses a futuristic organ sound to create a space-age sound that surfaces from time to time around the chorus. The guys from the band look as good as ever performing this hit.
Daniel and Eno started the group in Austin in 1993 as an experimental rock project. Their debut album, Telephono, came in 1996. Their next album, A Series of Sneaks, was released on Elektra Records in 1998. After switching to Merge Records, the band achieved more mainstream and wider success with their 2001 album, Girls Can Tell. They went on to release Kill the Moonlight (2002), Gimme Fiction (2005), Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007), Transference (2010), and They Want My Soul (2014) on Merge Records as well. Hot Thoughts, their most recent, came out this year via Matador Records. Watch the video below.
Photography Credit: Owen Ela
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