Wild Belle ‘Backslider’

Natalie and Elliot Bergman are a brother and sister duo from Chicago. They come from a musical family. Elliot began an Afrobeat band called Normo when he was studying at the University of Michigan. Elliot was experimenting and recording electric kalimbas when Shawn Lee asked Elliot to record a track for his new album. When Natalie heard what they were working on she insisted on recording a vocal track for the album. “Upside Down”, Normos first vocal tune was created and the siblings decided to collaborate as a Duo calling themselves Wild Belle. They have been described as a “retro-pop duo”, a “rock band”.

Filmed and directed by their brother Bennet Wade Bergman on August 23, 2012. Music by Wild Belle. Additional footage by Tyler Kaschke. There is no exact information on the music video, the budget etc because I would imagine that the early videos of an artist would mostly be made on low budgets and therefore is not advertised on the internet. However it is hard to tell with this clip. There aren’t any special effects or post production digital editing. The major feature of the clip is Nathalie and the coloured projections behind her on a white sheet. You can tell it’s a sheet because in the lighter projections you can see the creases and at one stage she actually lifts it up and at the end she pulls it down.

Their musical inspiration covers a wide range of artists and styles including; Joni Mitchell, Bill Withers, The Police, James Brown, High Life. Stylistic inspiration drawn from many different regions in Africa covering many different styles such as Tropicalia, Bossa Nova, reggae and Rocksteady.I think this is why I got a Santagold vibe when I first heard some of their songs. They’re attracted and have a strong love for that kind of music and have been wanting to travel and perform over their more than anywhere else.

They have a 70’s aesthetic quality mixed with a psychedelic trance vibe. This is obvious in their use of visuals in ‘Backslider’ from the way Nathalie is dressed to the pictures and footage that is projected behind her while she’s singing. They carry this image throughout their other work as well, at the Outside Lands Festival 2013, the band appeared on stage wearing all white blazers and pants with an ethereal cowboy feel.

The opening of their video Backslider evokes a 70’s colour slide projection with a home movie quality. The lightness of the images, the koala bear and some unnamed blue coastline, offer a colourful, hippy-esq type aesthetic that gives an interesting visual contrast against the negative lyrics about a cheating boyfriend.

I’m particularly interested in this video because of the use of projections and the relationship between the images and the lyrics or meaning of the song.

The first image of Natalie is a wide shot against a rural American projection backdrop with mountains in the background and tall trees and shrubs in the foreground. She has a slight cowgirl, free love hippy vibe with her long blond hair, her buckle belted jeans and long necklaces. She already exudes strong sexuality as she stands with her legs apart wearing a see through white shirt showing her bra underneath.

Some of the things that I thought about after the Vernallis’ reading was this relationship between what was being presented visually and the song. She talks about how the images present a certain aesthetic or mood whether you’re using narrative or not. Do the images work even when they’re totally devoid from the meaning of the song. What is being portrayed without being literal? At the start of the reading she also mentions the word Pastiche – “An artist work in a certain style that imitates that of another work, artist or period”

This clip is very much an appropriation of many different styles that make up Wild Belles Image.“The video moves to underscore the music, highlighting the lyrics and showcasing the star”.

This clip is all about showcasing Nathalie as the main feature of the duo. Her brother occasionally appears in the video however it’s brief and he is off to the side while Natalie is centre featured. This is also the case in a few of their other videos, one of which involves a love interest of Nathalie’s who looks creepily like her brother but covered head to toe in tattoos. I wonder if their sibling status is something they need to be aware of when they are shooting videos as any sexual movement or shots of them together could be construed or misinterpreted as something else. Because of the nature of the music, they can get away with this kind of crump dancing rather than grinding or hip bashing. They feature a lot of instrumental performance as well which gives Elliot something to do. He is always playing sax in the music videos.

HER LOVER

HER BROTHER

Railton’s reading ‘Situating Music Video: Between Feminism and Popular Culture’ helps us understand a woman’s representation through music videos or at least brings our conscious awareness to what is happening and how women are being represented or misrepresented through the music video genre. He talks about how female artists choose to represent themselves and whether this is a helpful or empowering representation of women in this post feminist discourse. Wild Belles gender roles are a little interesting in her clips especially in Keep You where she’s looking after this little boy. The song isn’t suggestive of an adoption type situation so when I saw the clip I was really surprised. I haven’t quite seen a relationship like this before where this child is playing the role of her boyfriend. It’s an interesting relationship dynamic and one that you don’t see very often. Somehow because she’s really hot she gets away with it not looking pervy however there are a few cringe moments but I do like that it’s different. I’d suggest checking out the clip and see what you think.

A lot of discussion in Railton’s reading but he does explore the difference between black and white female sexuality and how it’s portrayed and interpreted by viewers. It’s interesting to see how Natalie presents herself sexually as a fairly withheld, standoffish occasionally giving us some quirky dance moves that imitate this african tribal dancing. Most of this music video she just stands and sings to camera with a pout or with her bra showing. Considering where this music came from, a real earthy, grounded, uninhibited genre of music Afro Beat and Reggae, she is almost inhibited in some way to really go into the sexuality of the music she so obviously is pulling inspiration from. I wonder if this is a conscious choice?

The images and projections do work to create distance from the song. She comes across very cool, calm and collected as she sings about something fairly heartbreaking. The intense colours and tribal images behind her offer an impression that the band is worldly and well travelled whether this is true or not it doesn’t really matter. To take the images out of the context of their own lives and constructed narratives is a good choice for the energy of this song. It is a simple clip but the colours and projections are what attracted me to it and how the images make the viewer think and feel about the singer. The projections are all about energy and mood and I actually like the fact that Natalie keeps her physicality and movement simple so that we see the projections as a main focus, images that in some way seem to be controlling or restricting her. She is a part of the environment expressed through the image and she is respectful of that rather than trying to distort or distract from the image in some way. It’s a cute clip.