Every time we get a new song or video from Kerry Beyer it is just plain weird. Not the videos themselves, but the fact that these acoustic accomplishments are coming out of one of Houston's best and most acclaimed horror film directors. Oh well, a man's got to have layers.
His newest outing is a cover of the Beatles' "Across the Universe," and normally it's the kind of thing we'd skip here in the music video column. In addition to being a cover, which loses you points unless you do something over-the-top and ridiculous like Terrance Zdunich did with "Istanbul," it's more ore less just Beyer singing the song over a variety of special effects. The plethora of music videos that are little more than fun with filters has made finding subjects to write about a bit of a task. Even with these knocks against it this videos excels.
First, it must be said that Beyer's rendition of the song itself is masterful; fully doing justice to an iconic Lennon tune that showcases some of the best lyric writing of the entire Beatles catalog. Second, unlike the forced low-fi perspective you see a lot of indie bands using rather unoriginally in their vids Beyer shot the whole thing in beautiful, clear as a bell HD. Where another band would've made the whole thing look like you were watching a concert with sun spots in your corneas, Beyer carefully crafts his effects with stark lines and fractal patterns that keep order in the chaos... not unlike the universe itself.
It took only fifteen minutes to film himself singing the song in front of a green screen, but it was four full days of FX editing, and that effort really shows in the finished product. Maybe if more people put more thought into image manipulation in their music videos we'd be kinder to the style. So far only Beyer and Still Corners have had the chops to win high marks, and frankly Still Corners skidded by due to a massive crush we have on Tessa Murray.
The world doesn't necessarily need any more Beatles covers, but it doesn't necessarily need a lot of things that make it a lot brighter place. Beyer's little single is one of those things. Check it out below.
We sat down with Beyer to pick his brain on the execution of "Across the Universe." Click on over to page 2 for the interview.
