Video: Cut Your Hair - "Utah in Pictures"


Part of eclectic Fonogramáticos Vol. 13 last year, Cut Your Hair’s “Utah in Pictures” stood out as everything great recent indie pop had been: grandiose guitar riffs working as addictive hooks in simple song patterns. But, while the North American crop of indie-pop revivalists (Beach Fossils, Beach House, Surfer Blood) would set their collection of breezy tunes as the background for pleasant seaside lethargy, the Catalan trio were instead inspired by decaying images of Salt Lake City they found online. Directed by Barcelona-based photo studio EskenaziEncursiva (collaborative effort between Adriana Eskenazi and Laura Encursiva), the video captures the childlike essence behind the three young characters’ picturesque time together. Restrained in its storytelling, yet unobstructed in its visual expressiveness, the video intends to construct a storyline out of Canada’s trademark frame-to-frame aesthetic exercises. But as it refuses to reveal more about the nature of the intriguing relationship between the characters, it instead leaves us with a mixture of shots somewhere between eye-catching composition and suggestive sensuality. Released by Mushroom Pillow, home of some of the least Spaniard-sounding bands from Spain, “Utah in Pictures” is also the band’s debut single (which features a couple of catchy B-sides as well) and has all the potential to successfully launch Cut Your Hair into English-speaking audiences.