BIBJ Playlist of the 2000s entry #7: Daniel by Bat For Lashes

Full Details of the BIBJ Millennial Playlist Hullabaloo are available here. Today's entry is #7: Daniel by Bat For Lashes (2009)

One thing that's always made Bjork more compelling than 95% of other artists is her video catalogue. Nobody else can be counted on to routinely put out one amazing video after another, each which attempts to "out-crazy" the last. And they all pretty much succeed. But it's been awhile since her last album, and I think we all needed a hungry new ingenue to pick up the baton for avant-garde, inexplicable sequences. And Bat For Lashes has stepped up to the plate.




It all seems like one surrealistic, dream-like mess, right? But let's examine further and fully dissect the subtleties of the direction.

Every time you see a musical artist wearing their own merchandise, it just kinda makes you generally uncomfortable, right? Yet when said merch simultaneously pays homage to The Karate Kid, it seems far more palatable.


40 seconds in and we're diving right in to embrace the weirdness. Human-like creatures cloaked in black, displaying oddly shaped growths. These are the same costumes worn by the Fruit of the Loom mascots when they meet up for disturbing Eyes Wide Shut parties.


Ominous cutaways to charred stuffed animals and ash-ridden furniture go unexplained. How did this fire take place? Did the bizarre Cirque du Soleil crew burn down a carnie booth?


Even the most avant-garde dance troupes can't pass up an opportunity for some old fashioned crowd surfing.


The running make up seems familiar to me. If only I could pinpoint what it reminds me of...


"I'm covered in black and I'm wearing an over-sized pool skimmer net on my head. I guess I showed you, didn't I, FATHER! Those summers at dance camp were NOT a waste!"


Black on black crime has broken out! Don't you get it? The fire may have destroyed the possessions, but the breakdown of your societal morals is far more destructive to the ENTIRE CULTURE of anonymous interpretive dance!


She has escaped for the moment, in a station wagon. And she didn't even need Elisabeth Shue to help start it by popping the clutch!


Oh this is how it is? The guy growing multiple heads won't take no for an answer, takes the concept of grabby hands to Chris Brown levels, and eventually the subject becomes aroused? I knew I was wasting my time trying to put together a lovely fucking picnic lunch date.


Suddenly she realizes, "We're so far removed from one another on the universal hotness scale, this can't possibly work out. But hey, we gave it a shot. I feel bad asking you to leave my car, so I'll just swerve violently until you fly out the window."


Hey, that guy's name is Daniel, and Daniel is also the name of the song! The fact that it's an oddly static Daniel look-a-like makes it seem creepier though, no? The backup option was to just insert archival Macchio in, Weezer-style.

[FREEZE FRAME]

You’re the best!
Around!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
You’re the Best!
Around!

Bat For Lashes - Daniel (mp3) Removed by request of DMCA