TV Priest - Decoration

What this video is

Released October 28, 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic's second wave in the UK, 'Decoration' arrived as TV Priest's lead single announcing their signing to Sub Pop Records and previewing debut album 'Uppers' (February 5, 2021). The video and song crystallise a distinctly British pandemic-era sensibility: the absurdity and futility of late-capitalist consumer culture rendered darkly comic at a moment…

Why it matters

A landmark of the 2020s UK post-punk revival, 'Decoration' crystallises the genre's sardonic, observational lyrical mode — descended from The Fall and Protomartyr — within a distinctly contemporary social media age visual language. Its video's 'endless scroll' conceit is among the most formally…

The director

Joe Wheatley is a London-based film director and photographer. His music video directing credits include 'Decoration' and additional videos for TV Priest, videos for Billie Marten ('Creature of Mine', 'Drop Cherries', 'Liquid Love'), and Willie J. Healey…