The New Pornographers - Letter From an Occupant

What this video is

Released as the sole single from The New Pornographers' debut album Mass Romantic (Mint Records, 2000; Matador reissue 2003), this video emerged during a formative moment for Canadian indie rock's international profile. The band — a Vancouver-based supergroup including A.C. Newman, Neko Case, Dan Bejar, John Collins, Kurt Dahle, and Blaine Thurier — was celebrated critically but had not yet achieved wide commercial…

Why it matters

A key document of early-2000s indie power-pop at its most energetic and unpretentious. The New Pornographers synthesized new wave, Cheap Trick-style hook writing, and Wall of Sound production density; the video's performance aesthetic cleanly frames the song's multi-vocal architecture. The band's…

The director

Michael Dowse (born April 19, 1973, London, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian director trained as a film editor. He began his career directing short films, commercials, and music videos before breaking out with the micro-budget mockumentary FUBAR (2002), which…