One needs to only watch five music videos to come to a
simple consensus- Music videos don’t make sense, and they don’t need to. If the randomly
assembled images or “story” mesh with the sounds and feel of the song, this
lack of logic will go untested, and sometimes praised.
Case in point with Tame Impala’s new video for “Let it
Happen,” the opening track off their latest album Currents. In it we follow a man running through an airport, presumably late for a flight, though by his overly distraught and sweaty demeanor, there seems to be more troubling him. The man passes out, wakes up on the plane, passes
out again, wakes up in a hotel room, passes out again, and sees a sandwich
talking to him. There’s no definite reason as to what goes on in the four
minute video. Nothing of this sort comes up in the song’s lyrics. What matters
though, is how the images seamlessly blend with the hypnotic, trance-inducing
sounds of the track. His darting glances and unnerving composure are elevated
by the song’s quick successive opening beat. When the buildup slows down and comes to a halt, the man promptly falls over, hits the floor and his hunger-induced (or probably drug-induced) nightmare ensues.
It’s a shame they cut
the song in half for the video. After seeing a talking sandwich, I would be
curious to see what else the man’s festered mind could conjure up.
