Ryan Hemsworth - Against A Wall ft. Lofty305 (Music Video)

What this video is

Released in October 2013 as the lead single video for Ryan Hemsworth's debut album 'Guilt Trips' on Last Gang Records, 'Against A Wall' arrives at a pivotal moment in the SoundCloud producer ecosystem — when bedroom beatmakers who had built audiences through remix culture were transitioning into longform album artists. The video's aesthetic of intimate black-and-white mundanity, everyday domestic portraiture, and…

Why it matters

Represents a key early artifact of the SoundCloud-to-album pipeline that defined mid-2010s electronic music. Hemsworth's blend of chopped rap vocals with hazy, melancholic synth production — and the corresponding video's lo-fi documentary intimacy — became a template for the wave of 'sad…

The director

Paul Labonté is a Montreal-based photographer, director, author, publisher, and curator. He trained in photography and built a career spanning music video direction, advertising, branding consultancy, and publishing. He is widely recognized for directing the…