Stereogum » Sean Pecknold

The 5 Best Videos Of The Week

tom — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:36:41 +0000

We didn’t do one of these last week, on account of the holiday and all, which leaves us a whole lot to choose from this week. There were so many good videos from so many different corners of the internet universe this week that every single selection here is pure gold. Also, there was one music video this week that was pretty much just Beyoncé grinding for five minutes, and I didn’t list it. Please acknowledge my restraint. Our top five, after the jump.

Fleet Foxes – “The Shrine/An Argument” Video

tom — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:37:55 +0000

“The Shrine/An Argument” is the sprawling eight-minute suite from near the end of Fleet Foxes sophomore album Helplessness Blues; it’s the one with the free-jazz horn freakout. The new video for the song is a haunting and sometimes exciting animated piece about some sort of carnivorous antelope traveling across a hostile, fantastical landscape. Monsters abound. Sean Pecknold, the brother of Fleet Foxes frontman Robin, directed the video; he’s also one of the two animators. Watch it below.

Fleet Foxes – “Grown Ocean” Video

amrit — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:19:09 +0000

Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold came back to Twitter some time ago, until just a few minutes ago where he announced a bit of an internet hiatus. “As a parting shot,” though, comes this video for Helplessness Blues‘s “Grown Ocean,” set to images captured by his brother (and noted video director) Sean Pecknold. Behold:

New Grizzly Bear Video – “While You Wait For The Others”

amrit — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:05:30 +0000

Sean Pecknold got his first mentions around here by directing videos for Fleet Foxes, the band of his folk bro Robin. But as we’ve noted, that partnership wasn’t (just) nepotism: “Mykonos” was a lovely oragami-inspired, choreographed visual meditation, and of “White Winter Hymnal” I said “Basically if psychedelic folk music could be made out of animated clay, it would look like this.” So while Sean could theoretically guilt trip Fleet Foxes into hiring him repeatedly, other acts now are hiring him just because he makes compelling clips. Today we learn Pecknold got the nod for Grizzly Bear’s “While You Wait For The Others,” and his treatment for it is of a piece with his work for Fleet Foxes: the band isn’t visually embodied, but their music meets surreal illustration (does this song make you think of fencing? No? Well it probably didn’t make you think of Michael McDonald either and we all know how that turned out) via Sean’s enduring fascination with, and creative use of, stop animation … and bands with great harmonies.