I miss music videos. Sure, they’re still kickin’ around, but very few are that exciting lately. In this fast moving, Spotify-transformed industry, we’re mostly concerned with what’s new and next, and rarely do we take the time to check videos out anymore, sad but true (well, unless it’s an OK Go video or something). But here’s one that’s worth your time: Fiona Apple’s “Hot Knife”.
This new video off Apple’s The Idler Wheel… (TLW’s #1 album of 2012) is directed by Paul Thomas Anderson – her ex-boyfriend and director of her other videos for “Paper Bag,” “Limp,” “Fast As You Can,” and more. Undoubtedly – the two make beautiful creations together. “Hot Knife” blends black and white shots with color, focusing on close-ups of Apple’s face, and a split-screen side-profile of both Apple and her sister Maude Maggart, who also sings on the track. Oddly, the video is exactly what’s expected from the track. The three-paneled profile shots fluctuate from gray to color to silhouettes, undulating with the song’s pointedly repetitive lyrics. It’s art-meets-quirk, both visually and audibly.
Anderson really captures the emotion in Apple’s music, and as any Apple fan knows – she’s always insanely expressive.
And that’s an understatement.
