PREMIERE: Sweet Lights - Relate to You

My buddy Shai Halperin has been one prolific bro lately.  Seems like he churns out a new video every week! Here, he ‘repurposes’ (watch it now before it gets taken down) that fucking awful/beautiful/insidious Devendra Banhart sunglasses commercial.  I needed to ask…

How are you able to produce so much awesome videoage? 

Believe it or not, a lot of it has to do with becoming a stay-at-home dad. Thanks to Panda Bear, being a dad is super cool again so…I feel perfectly great about the whole thing. But seriously, that’s a big part of it. Being at home means at least some time to hack away at songs and videos, while not over-thinking them. Also, I have all of this family VHS footage from 1984 -1986 that is imprinted on my memory. I think am compelled to use it all up and release it out there so that it exists somewhere outside my brain. It’s therapeutic. 

And of course, from time to time a random concept will spring to mind that I can’t resist…lately more so than usual. I saw Kanye playing a drum machine on the VMAs and immediately thought 1000 people out there would re-purpose or sample the clip and overdub something of their own. Turns out no one else did. The Cosby intro clip was a no-brainer, also just assumed someone else would do that. One concept I bailed on: Taking the Kings of Leon video for “Radioactive” where they’re frolicking with children in a dusty village and singing in a barn, proceeding to cut the band dudes out and putting a Sweet Lights song underneath. I mean, come on guys. In that way, some video concepts turn into acts of public service…which is where I think this Devendra clip fits in.

Are you going to play these songs live soon?

One of my last live experiences involved an outdoor park show with a legless, homeless lady hopping on stage and harassing the band through 6 songs with no security in sight. I think I may have developed a slight case of stage fright.  However, my last band also did semi-regular opening and backing duties with Daniel Johnston so if/when he comes calling is probably when you’ll see Sweet Lights in action. But you never know…I do want to play these songs for the folks who like them.

What’s up with this weird Devendra commercial, anyways? Are you taking it down a notch with this?  Or celebrating its over-indulgence?

As for the Devendra clip. Hrmph, some mixed emotions on this one because I like his tunes and the original clip was shot beautifully. But…as mentioned earlier, I think this one sort of falls into the “public service” realm of video making or re-purposing. I mean, look at them. They’re loving life and blissing out in the LA sunshine. Great. They’re super good looking and they’re in a bathtub. Awesome. And their glasses. Am I going to be this happy if I buy these glasses? I just watched the commercial for it, and I’m LESS happy than before. So…maybe it’s just me, but I guess thought the clip could be addressed.or responded to in a creative way that went beyond a comment thread. Of course, the song, “Relate to You” works perfectly here for many reasons so at a certain point things just started making sense and the clip came together. Ideally, there’s new meaning here, though I realize that’s probably just to me. Regardless, I think it’s at least possible that the re-cut both celebrates the original while making the whole experience easier for all of us to stomach. Public service.