Minor Victories – Folk Arp (Music Video)
After an unbelievably stacked March saw the music video format take off at a sprint, April’s shaping up to be a beast as formidable as its predecessor. Just like the fixed stream posts that will be appearing throughout the rest of tonight, the music video features will all come equipped with shortlists of other titles worthy of attention. In this first round, that included videos from Kidsmoke, Molly, Solids, Journalism, The Bandicoots, The Drones, Steady Holiday, Sundrones, Katie Von Schleicher, and Dreamcrusher. While, as stated, those clips were all great in their own right, it was Minor Victories’ most recent music video that made the strongest impression.
Minor Victories have been slowly stringing together an incredibly impressive run of music videos, each one establishing and enhancing a surprisingly artful visual aesthetic. “Folk Arp” returns to the static shot black & white presentation that made “A Hundred Ropes” so striking. However, the similarities between their presentation end at that point. Outdoor samurais are swapped out for a skeleton crew of employees working in a pizzeria. With a shot that uses a boombox as its centering point, “Folk Arp” allows itself to play out quietly, to tremendous effect.
Utilizing the simplest of premises, “Folk Arp” gradually involves into an emotionally involving character study. Accentuated by the slow-burning intensity of the song’s dynamic setup, the secondary action takes on a ridiculously powerful sheen that finds the band, once again, coaxing maximum effect out of a minimalist setup. As the employees go about their daily routine, the shot stays unchanged, proving that there can be motion in stillness. No matter how frequently patterns may seem stagnant, evolution — at least on the most minute level — is occurring. It’s the most mundane of details but “Folk Arp” seems to be arguing for its undeniable importance. A contained, nuanced work, “Folk Arp” deserves to be used as a reference point for years to come.
Watch “Folk Arp” below and pre-order the band’s self-titled ahead of its June 3 release from Fat Possum here.
Heartbreaking Bravery 