Sydney band Tenderfoot have put their best, well, foot forward with their lead single The Scenery. John Vella and the gang have crafted a song loaded with sweet melodies and heart warming sentiments. That these songs were written during a difficult time for Vella manages to make those sentiments feel quiet genuine rather than sappy, something that comes across well in the single’s video.
Meeting someone through street art is much better than meeting them on Tinder. Tenderfoot give us the ultimate meet cute for The Scenery.
The video for The Scenery was directed by Jimmi Fenton, and his Vimeo page is well worth checking out for some other fun clips he’s made. The concept is quite simple; a young man who suffers from loneliness and depression strikes up a relationship with a woman through street art without actually meeting her face to face. It has that meet-cute vibe so many indie romance movies utilise. Maybe it’s a little corny but it works quite well, paralleling the themes of the track and bringing them to life visually.
The art used throughout the clip demonstrates this well. Our protagonist expresses himself with some dark material. His paintings are dominated by muted colours and downtrodden caricatures. It pangs the heart to know he has no other outlet for his sadness outside street graffiti. Yet, what begins as a painful experience turns into one of hope upon discovering a second artist has added to his initial painting. The development of the mural blossoms and Fenton does a good job of keeping the tension bubbling under the surface until the finale. For all we know our struggling hero may be getting Catfished Banksy style.
A lot comes to mind with street art. Some call it a nuisance while others choose to marvel at it. It’s a part of Sydney’s culture that thrives in the shadows, and we usually don’t notice it unless we’ve stopped scrolling through our phones to look where we’re walking. Our protagonist is initially lost in his own obscurity, desperately trying to leave his own mark on the world with his self-portrait. He surrounds himself with the blank white space of the wall, becoming the void that has consumed his life.
The Scenery‘s narrative works due to it’s simple, linear storytelling. That blank wall bursts forth with life and you can’t help but hope that our two star-crossed (paint-crossed?) lovers will unite.
