We are at the Nightingale Theatre, a 50 seat fringe venue in Brighton.  Tonight’s entertainment is introduced in person by the endearing and generously moustached Sam Cuthbert.  He has handpicked 11 music videos for us to view and appreciate on the BIG screen for a change.  In the fanzine we are given to complement the project, Sam describes Squint thus:

For one night only let’s see things on a big screen, with the sound up loud – a party atmosphere to celebrate a commercial artform that continues to run deep roots into all aspects of the cultural conscience.

Indeed.  It does take a bit of getting used to, having to sit quietly while dance music is on (not that we were told to sit quietly, but big screens tend to have that effect).  Also, at the more commercial music festivals these days, it’s quite common to have music videos playing in between acts, so there’s already perhaps an association with music videos being time killers while you wait for the ACTUAL show.  Once you’ve allowed yourself to relax and take it in, it’s a novel experience bolstered by some great musical choices.

Tonight’s playlist started with Montreal electro outfit Le Matos, and their new video for “88mph”.  It’s a lively video with extreme closeups on a lot of dancing feet. Then we have New York artist Kindness, with “Cyan”, a strangely sombre disco number, the video featuring the artist walking the streets of New York, cruising all the best street signs and shop frontage.  As you do.  Some of the videos, such as Sweet Sweet Lies’ “No One Will Love You” are a bit more straightforward, and they may be enjoyable, but perhaps don’t translate up from small to big screen quite as comfortably.

Other standout videos include The Parenthetical Girls – “Doughnut in my hand”, a very impressive video featuring an unseen protagonist trawling through boxes of classic vinyl albums, the covers all reworked to feature the lyrics as they pass.  The video that sparked the whole project, SebastiAn’s “Embody” is a lot of fun, a young chap dancing right up into a load of people’s ignoring faces.

All in all we got 11 videos, and the whole event took around 45 minutes.  With a show so short, it’s hard to see what the target market is.  I could see it working as part of a larger programme, but on its own?  At any rate, lovers of music videos as an artform will certainly enjoy themselves.