Blonde Redhead / Mike Mills

I've been a big fan of the rock band Blonde Redhead since their 2004 album “Misery is a Butterfly”, and my devotion was only strengthened after the release of their follow up, and most current album “23”. The albums are constantly working their way onto my Cd player, and the band’s unique vocals and overall sound put me into a headspace I can’t normally find. Both albums also have a great design, which, of course, doesn’t hurt my appreciation any. 

Up until last week I hadn’t seen any of the video’s off of “23”, but I happened upon them when I was doing some visual research at Blonde Redhead’s label’s website (www.4AD.com). I was delighted to see that all of the video’s were done by Mike Mills, who has seen a lot of publicity over the last few years for being an extremely talented jack of all trades. From what I have gathered, Mills started out, or at least made a name for himself, doing graphic design work for musical acts such as Sonic Youth, The Beastie Boys, and Air. He found his way into making music videos and hasn’t looked back, graduating to direct his first feature film with 2005’s Thumbsucker, a somewhat recent favourite of mine. 

The interesting thing about the videos Mills does for Blonde Redhead, is how different they are from most music videos out there. You know the ones that feature endless edits of the band looking their “coolest”, or visually distracted videos that merely keep ones eyes active until the song is done. Of the videos for Blonde Redhead Mills says “What if I only had one element? How could I reduce that element to it’s composite parts? Could I reduce that again? If I kept reducing, would I get to the hugeness of the music?” 

After watching all of the available videos, I was impressed by Mills ability to let the songs breathe within the context of video. He manages to seduce the viewer into his visuals, while never overstepping his boundaries, all the while contributing to the power of the music. 

To check up on Mike Mills, and check out his videos for Blonde Redhead, head over to his website (www.mikemillsweb.com), and take a little tour. You'll find five videos from Blonde Redhead’s album “23”, each offering its own rewards; and, if you liked the movie Titanic, or even if you didn’t but feel in a giving mood, you should give the video for the title track “23” a play - very nice editing!  

Note: After investigating a little further, Art Direction for the album “23” was done by David Heasty, who a nice website featuring his impressive work at www.heasty.com (although I don't think Blonde Redhead is featured).