Kimya Dawson, being a fairly unknown artist, has no official music videos so I am going to analyse an artist similar to her and in the same genre of anti-folk, however I will still analyse Kimya Dawson in some aspects. Regina Spektor has many offical videos, therefore I can do a thorough analysis of this artist and how she has changed over her years of being famous.
Regina Spektor has elements in her videos that make her unique and help identify herself. She is often seen playing the piano in her music videos (e.g. Samson and On the Radio) which is similar to Kimya Dawson as she is always seen with her acoustic guitar. Alot of artists in the anti folk genre are seen playing an instrument, whether an acoustic guitar or something more unusual. The majority of Regina Spektor's music videos are very light hearted with no deep and complex story that needs a true understanding in order for it to be effective. Kimya Dawson's lyrics tell a story however I feel a complex narrative would not fit to the music as it's all very staccato and light nor the genre. Another element Regina Spektor uses to identify herself is the use of quirkiness. The beginning of "Samson" with the paper doves is very original and although may not relate to the lyrical content, it adds to the creativity of the video and expresses the artists imagination. I feel this is very similar to Kimya Dawson and how she is very individual (e.g. personal drawings on her guitar) and the fan made videos (such as "My Rollercoaster") also show this.
Another artist from the anti-folk genre (anti-folk being a genre that takes the politicallly charged 1960's folk genre and subverts it. A good thing about this genre is that all the artists are different yet the music is often experimental, which is a good word to decribe both Regina Spektor and Kimya Dawson, and lacks seriousness and mocks mainstream music slightly) is Kate Nash who we analysed in our pitch and commented on a few times. There are many comparisons between the three artists lyrically, as they're all very creative within their lyrics. One thing I like about Kate Nash and Kimya Dawson is that they use speech within their videos for example in the "Foundations" video (below) when Kate Nash sings 'I said 'I'd rather be with your friends mate, cause they are much fitter'. In the music videos, looking at "Samson" and "Foundations" they both use their imagination to create an unusual video thats not simply a performance. As most anti-folk music is experimental, the artists often express the creativity not only lyrically but through the music video.
Below are three music videos by Regina Spektor. "Samson" and "On the Radio" were released 5 years ago whereas "Eet" is more recent, released 2 years ago. Looking at simply these videos, not much as changed over the years. Her most recent video seems to be less complex, and repeats the typewriting action yet still has some form of unusual effect similar to her older videos. Her image has hardly change over the years which can be good as it shows what her true personality is, however sticking to the same image can be bad as people can get bored so sometimes change is good. In lyrical terms, Kimya Dawson also has songs very similar to one another and rarely has individual songs that stand out for being different to the others. A generic convention in Regina Spektor's videos is the use of musical instrument, although the acoustic guitar is much more conventional and this is what Kimya Dawson is always seen with. Another generic convention is the use of experimenting with ideas (especially in narrative lyrics) and mocking seriousness which is what Regina Spektor does, especially in "Eet" (The word eet was what Regina used to sing when she didn't know the lyrics to a song) however Kimya Dawson is slightly more serious in some of her songs, including "The Competition" as it actually deals with an issue she has had to deal with growing up, but she does interpret it lightly, for example when she talks about dressing as a princess.
EET MUSIC VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMEpaVL_WsU
Overall, I believe all anti-folk artists that I have looked at (Kate Nash, Florence and the Machine, Kimya Dawson and Regina Spektor) have stuck to their image, and are all very creative and quirky in their ideas for lyrics and music videos.
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