Video: Lucy Arnell, ‘Instamatic You’

S.Lo on January 24th, 2019

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Landing in L.A. via New York City via San Francisco, Lucy Arnell (aka Jackie Cohen’s guitarist) has a knack for changing directions. Her 2015 debut album, “The Whole Sky Turned Red With the Rainbow,” was a box of pop-indie confections with sprinklings of country and a couple gold-wrapped pieces of rock and funk. Her latest full-length, “Anyways Any,” is a decidedly lower-fi, punk-infused affair, recorded in analogue with producer/co-writer Jason Abraham Roberts (Norah Jones), co-writer Brian Harding (Blond Ambition, Ex Cops) and bassist Gus Seyffert (Beck, Connor Oberst, Roger Waters, Bedouine).

Her single, “Instamatic You,” is one of the shiniest nuggets of the bunch. As the video, directed and animated by Shane Beam, suggests, the song is a wistful tune about the nature of being a bit different from the standards of picture perfection. Arnell sings, “I might be the lonely one / I’m a sad old sun / Had to bring it all, freefall / Be the perfect doll / Perfect Doll… Have a hangnail where my heart is / ‘Oh, what’s that? What’s that?’ you say / Anyway the world is blue / It must be the Instamatic you.” The taste is a tad bittersweet in its envy of easy perfection, but sweet overall in what it doesn’t try to be with its glistening honesty.

||| Watch: The video for “Instamatic You”