Video: Youth Lagoon – “Montana”

To be honest, writing about videos wasn’t something we ever planned on at Pop Press.  Our staff, largely, is full of word nerds who tend toward the literary side of music criticism rather than the cutting edge of videos that speak a thousand words.  However, this video changed our minds.  Directed by Tyler T. Williams for Youth Lagoon’s “Montana” from the band’s debut The Year of Hibernation on Fat Possum Records, the video is one of the most strikingly cinematic and beautiful videos we’ve seen in recent memory.  The ethereal narrative woven between a man and the ghosts of his younger self and his father lend a haunting story to Youth Lagoon’s always haunting and beautiful keys and beats.  The video and song float weightlessly before syncing up sharply when the piercing, metallic drum bursts emphatically into the arrangement.  We’ll be surprised if you can watch it only once.