"Riptide" Music Video Analysis

"Riptide" 
the song 'riptide' was released by Vance Joy in 2013 for his debut EP  "God Loves You When You're Dancing." The music video does not follow a cohesive narrative but instead each frame features a symbol that reflects the lyrics making the video have very literal translations and connections because the lyrics are parallel with the frames which breaks general conventions of a typical music video because although the lyrics and video generally coincide they tend to follow a clear story line, however the genre of the song is Indie Folk so the music video expresses the idea of the indie genre being very unique and original. Each frame is polysemic and have further more complex ideas behind them, for example the last few lines at the end of each chorus features a woman singing and with each chorus it becomes more intense as her make up smudges and she becomes progressively more distressed until at the end a hand grabs her around the neck. when she sings, the lyrics at the bottom of the screen read "you gone and sank the words wolf" however the correct lyrics are "you gone and sang the words wrong" this irony again is very literal however leaves the audience in a state of confusion as the woman in distress contrasts hugely with the mood of the song. The haunting stance of the music video makes the video more engaging and interesting due to the way in which the song is being portrayed. The message behind the video is suggesting a death of a relationship, as seen by the lyric "i want to be your left-handed man" and the images that accompany it is a hand holding a gun and a hand holding scissors cutting a plant both of which signify with the ending of life. The frame whereby a woman is dragged to "the dark side" suggests the relationship is pulling her back although she is trying to escape. The video allows the audience to make their own interpretations of what the clips signifies which evokes interest amongst viewers as their is no clear narrative. The colours during the video vary from bright to dark and therefore add to the idea of an unclear plot.