she lit a fire

by Erica

We don’t have a blog post this week, so instead I’m posting about something I think is out of this world. And that ‘thing’ is one of my favorite bands, Lord Huron. In specific, their frontman Ben Schneider. (I wont’ even go into all the details about that time he threw his drum stick into the audience and how it landed at my feet…..but that’s a pretty pivotal part of the story as well). Anyway, my goal in advertising (and maybe life in general) is to find new and interesting ways that various media hit, bump, and intersect. I want to make media a real life experience, and move it beyond being a stationary timeline or a feed. I’m interested in the ways that media can  springboard and be applied as background to real life. In a storytelling element. That’s always the key here. Storytelling. We make up stories about ourselves, our lives. We go see movies, watch television — listen to music. I want to be everybody but me, and I think that’s why storytelling is so appealing to me. And it is to Ben Schneider too. I literally have the biggest brain crush.

I recently read this NYT article about the band. The title caught me — ‘A Musical Project that is Also An Alternate Reality Game.’ Interesting. Schneider, go figure, has an advertising background.  He talks about his inspiration for his creation, (or his many creations stemming from) a Mr. George Ranger Johnson. I won’t lie, I have a record player and I love listening to music on it. He’s right, it is nostalgic. He wanted to embody this thought in the new digital age. An inspiration. A feeling. And he embodied it through a great media-esque game. George Ranger Johnson, while he does have his own website, is a fictional character out of Schneider’s mind. His books (all conveniently out of print) are titles of the bands many songs – Time To Run, Lonesome Dreams, etc. The music videos for their various songs function as trailers for movies. Schneider is telling the ultimate story, and he’s doing it through so many mediums that it’s incredible. Again – biggest brain crush ever. And it all stemmed from his original thought about what it was like to see an album cover after buying that new vinyl. This is an insight. A great insight. What did that album cover say about the band? Who designed it? What type of thoughts did it provoke? Schneider has intensified this feeling ten-fold. This band is so in-tune with the media world around them, it’s crazy – and it helps that their music is equally as incredible. Beyond Schneider’s genius, it’s also amazing branding.

I know a Lord Huron music video when I see it, and critics praise their sound. They’re  imaginative and dreamy. We’re waiting for the next installment. Both of their ongoing music videos as well as their new album. ‘Like’ them on Facebook, they even post these wonderful rhythmic tunes of post-cards. This blend of old and new within the digital age is incredible. Schneider’s brilliant (but maybe inconvenient) idea for his next album is to release the songs based on location. To unlock a song, you will have to be in a certain location. Literally, invoking. While this could be a pain, I think it’s a great experiment. It’s daring. And it’s doing exactly what Schneider wants it to. He’s really putting his fans into a world. Go see one of their shows; they literally put you in a different world. He wears a cowboy hat. There’s a mountain background. Everything about them is invoking of something wonderful and Southwestern and Schneider’s ability to tie something that visual to a digital medium is fantastic. As I’ve said before, I’m very interested in this real-life intersection between the digital and life. I think that Schneider has found a way to combine it in a most fantastical way. Kudos to him and his project. I want to see more of this. Less of tweeting pictures of yourself or hashtagging a phrase and more of the brand itself being involved. I don’t want to know I’m directly participating in this social media brain wall. I want it to feel natural.

Thanks Lord Huron.