Shearwater - Quiet Americans

What this video is

Released January 21–22, 2016, 'Quiet Americans' arrived as the lead single and video from Shearwater's Jet Plane and Oxbow (Sub Pop), an album frontman Jonathan Meiburg explicitly conceived as a protest record engaging with American political identity, polarization, and disillusionment. The video's noir-drenched visual language — crushing blacks, sepia warmth, theatrical stillness — mirrors the song's thematic…

Why it matters

The video crystallizes mid-2010s art-indie's formal ambitions: slow-cinema pacing applied to a pop-length music video, protest-art seriousness within a Sub Pop commercial release context, and new-wave visual codes updated for HD-era color grading. It represents a notable stylistic pivot for…

The director

New York City-based filmmaker and cinematographer. Earned a BA in Cinema from San Francisco State University in 2011. Has shot and directed commercial, editorial, music video, short film, and photographic projects with clients including Schiaparelli, Sub…