Father John Misty - Two Wildly Different Perspectives

What this video is

Released January 30, 2017 — one week into the Trump administration and days after the controversial executive order restricting travel from seven majority-Muslim countries — this video occupies a precise political moment. Father John Misty (Joshua Tillman) released it with an explicit political statement condemning U.S. immigration policy. Drawn from the album Pure Comedy (Sub Pop, April 7, 2017), the song and…

Why it matters

Represents a pivotal moment in 2010s indie folk's politicization, where the confessional singer-songwriter form expanded into explicit sociopolitical documentary video art. The non-performance, found-footage format was unusual for the genre in 2017 and anticipates the broader turn toward archival…

The director

Matthew Daniel Siskin (also known professionally as DES and by his music moniker Gambles) is a Los Angeles-based creative director, music video director, artist, and songwriter. He entered the industry unconventionally through website design before…