The Head and the Heart - Summertime

What this video is

Released May 2014, this video arrives at the height of the indie folk revival's mainstream crossover moment, when acts like The Head and the Heart were bridging the gap between Sub Pop's historically alternative roster and broad festival-circuit audiences. By commissioning a fellow Sub Pop artist — animator and musician Chad VanGaalen — to visualize 'Summertime,' the band embedded the single within a collaborative,…

Why it matters

Represents the indie folk genre's embrace of visual art collaboration in the mid-2010s, using handcrafted animation to reinforce the acoustic, organic qualities of the music. The video demonstrates how Sub Pop leveraged its multi-disciplinary artist roster as an integrated creative network — a…

The director

Chad VanGaalen (born 1977) is a Canadian musician, animator, and visual artist from Calgary, Alberta. He released his debut album Infiniheart (2004) on Flemish Eye Records, later picked up by Sub Pop in 2005. He is known for creating hand-drawn animated…