Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost

2007

Band of Horses - Is There a Ghost (2007) Director: Brian Savelson Era: Mid-2000s Indie Rock Bloom (2007) - Peak Sub Pop indie era; lo-fi aesthetic meets early HD digital, coinciding with the critical breakthrough of Band of Horses' second album 'Cease to Begin' on Sub Pop Records. High curatorial value as a confirmed MVPA Award-winning video from a critically acclaimed 2007 single that charted in the US and internationally. Represents an important intersection of Sub Pop Records' indie legacy, the mid-2000s American indie rock movement, and the early career of director Brian Savelson. The video's technical metrics, fast editing, warm low-brightness palette, high saturation relative to contrast, document a distinct visual grammar of the era. Essential for any archive covering the 2007 indie rock moment or the evolution of alternative music video direction. Context: Released August 28, 2007 as the lead single from Band of Horses' second album Cease to Begin on Sub Pop Records, 'Is There a Ghost' arrived during a fertile period for American indie rock characterized by grassroots blog culture, MySpace music discovery, and the critical prestige of the Pacific Northwest scene. The song reached #34 on the US Alternative Songs chart and was ranked among Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2007, marking the band's commercial breakthrough. The video's raw, kinetic visual language mirrors the broader mid-2000s indie ethos: authenticity over polish, energy over spectacle. Ben Bridwell has publicly cited personal paranoia as the song's creative origin, lending the video's restless, fast-cut rhythm a thematic resonance with anxiety and hypervigilance. Director notes: Directed in 2007 for Sub Pop Records as the official video for 'Is There a Ghost,' the lead single from Band of Horses' second album Cease to Begin. The video won the 2008 MVPA Award for Best Direction in the Alternative category, a significant early-career accolade that, per Savelson's own biography, led to a video commission from David Bowie's High Line Festival. Savelson has described his music video work as primarily live-action and generally narrative in nature, used as a visual training ground between his short animation work and his feature debut. The fast editing pace (avg. shot length 2.59s, 70 scene changes) and warm, hazy low-brightness palette reflect Savelson's stated focus on image composition and a DIY visual sensibility consistent with the Sub Pop indie aesthetic of the period.