Accidentally Wes Anderson
Accidentally Wes Anderson
17 songs, 1h. Featuring Lianne La Havas, Hiatus Kaiyote, Tatiana Eva-Marie and more.
Wes Anderson’s visual style is paradise for synesthetes. His use of colour and shape is so stimulating and one-of-a-kind I thought it’s worth trying to find music that is an aural expression of his aesthetic. To do that, I considered four characteristic factors: rich colour palette, upbeat, self-aware irony, and a symmetric rhythmic pattern. Of course, no song can be all of these four things to the same extent. Instead, I went for songs that are especially strong in one aspect.
Self-aware irony is not easy to express musically, but it can be done in more than one ways. It can be the lyrics, the singing style or the manner of the performance. This playlist has a few examples of “We are being cutesy and we know it” (Fete by the River, Coquette, What You Don’t Do) and a few of “We are a bit wonky here and there and we own it” (SMiLE, Theodor Marmalade). DOMi & JD BECK are serious masters of unseriousness in their other work and their outfits too.
Rich colours are the most straightforward to manipulate in music: via harmony. It’s not just that certain chords are associated certain colours, but technology can enhance how the chords sound, and create rich textures (Fingerprints, Learn To Fly, SMiLE).
The viral trend Accidentally Wes Anderson captures pastel colours and the sharp symmetry that is in nearly every shot in Anderson’s films. In music, simple and predictably repeating rhythmic patterns are synonyms for symmetry (Kamakumba, Butterscotch, an angel will be with you shortly, East London Street [Drums only version]).
Finally, I’ve chosen a song that is unexpectedly accidentally Wes Anderson. The StudioBinder explains how carefully sound effects are designed and added to scenes in all of Anderson’s films. Bubbles by Yosi Horikawa combines bouncing pingpong balls and a sound best described as toned down steel drums to create a light airy ambience.
Video essays by StudioBinder, Wisecrack and The Beauty Of helped me understand Wes Anderson’s style better.