Moonlight Dancing

If you haven't already heard the song, jump on over to PNC's blog (*brand new* ;)) and check out the video for Moonlight.

First off, let me say I'm a big PNC fan. I love his flow, his lyrical ability, and the dude has put out some really solid videos for his singles (though I really wish there was a video for Bomb! One of my favourite tracks). The dude is one of New Zealand's greatest MCs (I'm not going to make a list or anything... or am I?). But even the greatest among us have slipped a few times, and in my opinion (let me stress that I'm just a fat lazy guy with an opinion, so take it for what you will) Moonlight is one of those slips for PNC (and just a slight slip at that).

I'll start with the music. Official, who produced the beat for another of PNC's singles (Just Roll), again is responsible for the beat on Moonlight. Now, I love the beat. There's nothing wrong with the beat. It gives the song an ethereal feel, and it suits the title. The problem with the music comes in at the chorus.

As someone with a myspace account, like everyone else I get random friend requests from music artists who don't quite have the exposure some other artists have. And so it is for that reason I am familiar with Zeisha Fremaux. She's the chick who appears in the chorus. She is one of the problems I personally have with the song. While she has a good voice in that she can sing in tune, and has reasonable tonality, it's just not popping. You can hear in the first few times she sings the chorus that they've either had someone come in and do bg vocals for her as well (or she came in after someone already laid some down), or they messed with her voice a bit and used it as a double for her to add a bit of depth. The only times I enjoy the chorus is when her voice is replaced with a synthesizer. Honestly, I think it would make the track just that much better if they went back and replaced all the choruses with the synthesized version.

See, now that wasn't so bad. I think that's my only real criticism of the music, and it wasn't even PNC's fault :D

Now for the video. Jonathan Gerard takes on the role of director for Moonlight. A member of the Fish'n'Clips team, he's directed a few NZ music videos by bands such as Pluto and The Mint Chicks. I'm not really familiar with his other work, but Moonlight isn't his strongest attempt. (Again, let me frame this by saying this is only my personal opinion.)

The video just isn't that interesting. PNC in a couple different outfits in front of a couple different backgrounds with a couple dancers and some tags? I realise he was probably trying to take a minimalist approach to convey the ethereal, floating feel of the song, but I guess it wasn't quite minimalist enough.

So, to break it down a bit. Why does PNC need to change outfits? There's no reason that I can gather from the song itself. But I suppose this question is connected to the background changes. I just don't see the point. It doesn't seem to connect anything. In fact, in a video that is so minimalist, the changes are distracting and feel disjointed.

I understand the reason for the dancers. The chorus references dancing, and so, we have dancers. I even like the effect used on the dancers. What makes the dancers a bad choice, in my opinion, is the way they're used. They appear sporadically, are dancing in a way that doesn't seem to mirror the song, and unlike PNC and Zeisha actually look at the camera. Like the outfit and background changes, the dancers only serve to make the video feel even more disconnected.

Then there's Zeisha. Unfortunately, direction is her problem. It's obvious she's been told to look at something away from the camera and keep her eye on it, and been told to dance and use her arms. It just looks so... contrived, and so laboured. PNC has the advantage of glasses, whereas Zeisha remains so focussed on this thing off camera that it just makes you think "I wonder what she's looking at?" Like I said, this isn't her problem, Gerard was just unable to think of something less distracting for her.

Another thing is that Zeisha is only placed in the chorus (obviously because she sings it), but is seen at almost no other time, and is never doing anything but that dancing on the spot. Perhaps if she had been imagined as a character for PNC to interact with, she would have fit in better in the video, and perhaps would have made the video as a whole a lot better.

Then there's the tags. The problem with the tags is that there's not enough of them, and they're too static. Some of them are just thrown on the screen and do nothing more than take up space, but some of them are given movement and really emphasise the lyric (for example, "Boom"). Now, the reason why I said there's not enough of them is because a whole video could be made from just these tags alone. Give them some movement, make them come alive, and you could have a great video. But the way they're done here just seems like they were thrown in.

Just as an aside, watch the end of this video (from 2.05min onwards) featuring none other than PNC to see a really creative use of words in a music video. Sure, it's not the same feel, but it gives you an idea.



Okay, so there we have it. My review of the new single and video for PNC, Moonlight. And let me just end it by saying I'm just one guy, and my opinion means squat. I don't mean for PNC, Jonathan Gerard, Zeisha Fremaux or anyone involved in the project to feel bad about it. The fact that you guys made the song and the video is proof enough of your talent and abilities. This is just one guy's opinion, who has no influence whatsoever, and who you'll probably never meet. But then again, if on the off chance you happen to read this and do take my opinion to heart, and can see my point of view on things and understand my criticisms, then I'm glad I was able to help :D

Peace.