Noah and the Whale - 5 Years Time

What this video is

Released during the peak of the British indie folk crossover, '5 Years Time' was the debut single from Noah and the Whale's debut album Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down. Originally released in October 2007 on Young and Lost Club, it failed to chart, but its August 2008 re-release on Island UK reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's commercial breakthrough. The video's Wes Anderson-referencing…

Why it matters

A landmark artefact of the late-2000s UK indie folk revival, the video codified an aesthetic vocabulary — warm saturation, ukulele-and-whistles instrumentation, park performance, Wes Anderson typography — that became widely imitated across the genre. It helped establish Noah and the Whale…

The director

UK-based director and graphic designer. Studied graphic design at university before working as a motion graphics designer and animator for E4, MTV, 4music, The Box, and Kerrang. Transitioned into music video direction under RSA Films. Won Best New Director…