Genre - Indie Folk

Indie folk is a genre of music that branches off from indie rock and came about in the 1990’s. It came along at the time of the ‘New Weird America’ scene and started with indie rock singers and songwriters that had become heavily influenced by the contemporary folk music scene from the early 1900's like The Almanac Singers and The Weavers. This hybrid began and has been growing ever more popular in recent decades. The pioneers of this genre are artists like Jeff Buckley who got inspiration from Bob Dylan and James Taylor. And now the recent faces of indie folk include artists like Daughter, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bon Iver and Ben Howard.  People are starting to listen to this genre more and more as the music is easy to listen to with a mixture of mellow, acoustic sounds and catchy melodies yet no artist sounds the same. Being ‘indie-individual’ the artists are celebrated for their individual and original voices that don’t fit in with the mainstream pop genre. Indie folk concentrates more on the talent in the voices and instrument playing than the hype around the music industry or making a fashion statement. Listeners of indie folk are listening simply for the enjoyment of the music stripped bare, no auto tune or technology, just instruments and a voice. Although many indie folk artists are unsigned or singed to small independent labels (hence the name ‘indie’) the most well-known indie folk labels in America consist of Hush, Barsuk Records, SubPop Records and Ramseur Records.

Conventions of the genre include:

Live performance: This is used predominantly to promote the artist or band. It also takes away all the frills to modern day music videos, it proved that even stripped down music videos that simply contain the music can be just as effective as ones based on a narrative. Live performance videos are also used to show the passion the artist has and reflects how the audience of this genre prefers to consume the music. However most indie videos now include narrative as well as live performance to keep the audience entertained and to appeal to more audiences. Performance can be seen in the Benjamin Francis Leftwich video for Box Of Stones where he is playing an acoustic guitar, reinforcing that the purpose of the video is to promote the artist and his talents.

Narratives: Most indie videos now use a narrative along side live performance. The narrative can be used to keep the audience entertained and to appeal to a wider audience. The more different it is, the more memorable it will be to the audience and can improve sales. Indie music video narratives often include a person going on a journey or looking back on their life. This often reflects the lyrics that are used a lot in this genre. In Bon Iver's Video for Calgary, there is no performance, simply a narrative running consecutively to the music. This can help reflect the mood and tone of the song.

Mise en scene: Artists often play themselves in the narrative as the song lyrics often reflect themselves and the things they have been through. They often have a retro look, leather jackets and jeans. Girl artists usually wear dresses and boots. However more predominantly in Indie Folk, women are shown as pure and innocent and often wear white dresses and not too much make up and lots of neutral colours are used in both sexes. The location for the videos are usually set in woodland or in open spaces in nature because the bands and artist usually like to keep their videos basic and simplistic like the soft sounds. 'Calgary' includes a huge amount of nature and fairy tale like aspects in the mise en scene which makes it like a mystical fantasy to the audience. This engages them more as they want to see what happens in the end, even though it is usually predictable.

Sound: Indie bands, specifically Indie Folk are based around the acoustic guitar and vocals. There are rarely any other instruments used apart from the occasional percussion instrument like a tambourine or drum. This is because indie artists are against the use of any technical editing to their songs like auto tune or edited instruments and are proud to just display their talent. Their songs are often simplistic so you can feel the full effect of the meaningful lyrics. The music is mostly diegetic when the video consists of live performance, however it can be non-diegetic when the video centers around the narrative but there is usually some diegetic music played. 'Box Of Stones' mainly consists of just a voice and an acoustic guitar, this portrays a soft mood to the audience and makes it more relaxing to listen to. The focus is more on the talent of the singer than of the instruments.

Cinematography: Extreme close ups are the most commonly used in the Indie genre as it shows the identity or character of the artist which is what they are predominantly trying to sell. Lots of close ups are used in the video for 'The Way I Tend To Be' by Frank Turner, to show him singing to remind the audience of the purpose of the video along with entertaining them with the narrative. Long shots and full body shots are also used, especially in live performance to show the use of instruments and also to show the clothes the artists are wearing, as many bands are the source of style inspiration. Pans and tilts are used to show movement and give the impression of a journey. They also show the location to the video to put the video in context and easier to understand to the audience.

Editing: The edits for Indie Folk are usually quite slow and the shots are long, this is usually because the edits match the beat of the song and most Indie Folk songs are relatively slow. The edits speed up when the song speeds up. This also can reflect the mood or tone of the song and changes how the audience perceives this. Sometimes effects are edited in to the video post production like black and white or to make it look like it is from an old tape. This is to give the video an old fashioned rustic look that is popular at the moment. Old styles in media and fashion are perceived to be cool and edgy. This technique is used in 'Calgary', it reflects the tone and mood of the song and makes the video more simplistic and can have a soothing effect on the audience.