8.03.2009

Music Video Monday: "Somewhere Only We Know"

Track: Somewhere Only We Know
Artist: Keane
Album: Hopes and Fears
Year: 2004

My first exposure to Keane, similar to many others, was the video for 2004's "Somewhere Only We Know." I remember seeing a commercial on FUSE at the time just raving about the video, and for some reason I felt compelled to check it out. The result was an ongoing casual relationship I have with the band to this day. I'm in no way a diehard fan of the group, however, I will say that I always appreciate their work ever since seeing this. At the time, piano-based stuff was just making a comeback, so we hadn't really been inundated with The Fray, etc. yet to the point of insanity. This seemed like a fresh step back in time to the days when Elton John and Billy Joel were ruling the charts.

To be honest, I'm not even so sure I know why I like this video. Maybe it's because it felt like a bold introduction to a fairly new band at the time. Now, I can just sit back and appreciate the cool visual work. As some may remember, the band starts off in a theater, which eventually leads to a forest, and then a city (which builds up around them) before progressing back again. To me, all are effective vehicles for feelings of loneliness and the sort of intimacy the song prescribes-- specifically the empty theater. What I'm still hooked on is the city building around them, and subsequently tearing itself down. There's nothing really all that enterprising about it, and there wasn't then either, but for some reason, I've just always thought that the effect of keeping the mood while changing that scenery so drastically appeared to be the work of an artist who knew what they were doing. Maybe I'm wrong, but still, you'll probably enjoy whether you've never seen before, or just haven't in awhile. Check it out below.


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