The Academics are an Irish alternative indie rock band that formed in 2013. Their first album ‘Tales From The Backseat’ was released in 2018 which not only was entered the Irish Albums Chart at number one but was also nominated for Album of the Year at the Choice Music Prize in 2019.
Their video for their song ‘Mixtape 2003’ fits well into their indie rock genre as the band themselves can be seen performing the song whilst also joking around and having fun. The loose and expressive camera angles add to the rather low budget feel and also applies itself to Curran & Seaton’s theory that, in this case, an independent band will have more room for creativity and therefore will have more fun within the work they produce.
The song itself looks at the idea of nostalgia as it focuses back on the year 2003 which appears to have happy memories for the band as we can see in the line ‘A mixtape of 2003 a better time for you and me’. The video itself is full of silly puns that go off the lyrics - this helps to add to the idea of fun and the lighthearted feel of not only the music video but of the band remember the year itself.
The theme of nostalgia is embellished within the video through creative choices that the band have made such as the old vintage style camera effect that plays when the band is playing or the different references to mixtapes and the image of an old arcade game.
Their website is rather simple with their home page supporting only the band’s name, social media buttons that link to other platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and their Spotify. The background image is actually their new album cover with a link stating the EP’s title which when clicked will take the audience to a page informing them of where it can be streamed. Their menu bar again has no fuss or frills - just tabs to different parts of the website such as their home page, music, and videos.
All of this again fits into their rather lower budget, independent and creative work.
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