Basking in the success of Sometimes I Sit And Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, the Australian singer-songwriter has a video to tack on for her track “Dead Fox”. Courtney Barnett has made herself known for her stream-of-consciousness talk-singing, illustrating a musical diary of sorts. “Dead Fox” acts as a PSA advocating for driving safety in its repeated chorus of “If you can’t see me, I can’t see you,” as well as a warning against the evils of the corporate world, with hidden lines about organic fruit. But where the video truly shines is in its brilliant animation, curated by a pair of Irish animators.
The animators described their decision for choosing the content of the animated video:
“We liked how politically loaded and conversational the lyrics are. We wanted the animation to have a stylistic and organic look, hence most of the drawings were done on paper rather than digitally. To further compliment the lyrics, we thought it would be funny to have the animals in the video look as cynical as possible, as if they’d had enough with how humans are treating them.”
Cartoon animals and even a cartoon Courtney animated in jerky motions with an almost pleasantly nauseating color palette bring back memories of Saturday morning cartoons. It’s simple enough to properly grasp Barnett’s apathy, and adorable enough to watch over and over again. Give it a watch below. For those lucky enough to have tickets, you can catch Barnett at The Sinclair on May 18th.