Vow to Vowels: The Sidewalk Experiences My First Earthquake

Yesterday My First Earthquake – a California-based indie rock band founded in 2006 – released the typographic music video for Vow to Vowels, a song off their first full album, Downstairs. The joyful clip is an ode to a crossword-puzzle lover. It has the band write out the lyrics in chalk, using all sorts of colourful lettering styles ranging from constructivist geometric shapes over swirly scripts to chunky three-dimensional letters, and more. The four-piece is made up entirely of designers living in San Francisco – “designing the day away and rocking the night”. I can relate. Pretty fitting for a typographic music video drawn on a playground, if y’ask me.

The video was produced by Michael Cobra of Cobra Creative in a mere 48 hours. It was shot entirely on an iPhone with the help of his wife and friends. Filming it with the iPhone lends the footage a delightful over-saturated, vintage Super-8-like quality. Mike says of the song:

Vow to Vowels stuck out to me because it felt like a hip song that would be on Yo Gabba Gabba or Sesame Street. I thought it would be great to make the kind of music video that would impress my three year old son.

Up till now My First Earthquake have released two EPs, Tremors (2008, 6 songs) and Crush (2010, 4 songs), which they distribute for free, and a debut album, Downstairs (2009, 10 songs), downloadable for a mere $5. If you like this band and enjoy their music, maybe help them make their second full album on Kickstarter.

Tags: iPhone, music, music video