Father John Misty - Things It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution

What this video is

Released August 3, 2017, as a companion piece to Father John Misty's critically acclaimed third album Pure Comedy (Sub Pop/Bella Union, April 2017), this video arrived during a period of heightened political and environmental anxiety in the US and UK following the 2016 US election and Brexit vote. The song imagines the aftermath of a revolutionary upheaval that fails to deliver liberation, satirizing yuppie…

Why it matters

Represents the apex of the 2010s indie folk video tradition of commissioning auteur animators to extend thematic album concepts. The pairing of Hopewell's stop-motion craft with Tilman's orchestral baroque folk ballad establishes a template for environmentally engaged, narratively rich…

The director

English director, animator, and graphic designer born and raised in Bristol, UK. Co-founded Collision Films in 2002 and runs Jacknife Films and the Jacknife graphic design agency in Bristol. Known for stop-motion music videos for Radiohead ('There There,'…