Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything

2006

Wolf Parade - I'll Believe In Anything (2006) Director: Matt Moroz Era: Mid-2000s Indie Rock Bloom (2005–2007) - Peak of the Montreal indie scene and Sub Pop's cultural dominance; era of auteur-driven, narrative-concept music videos with international production ambitions on micro-budgets. Exceptionally high. This video is a confirmed award-winner (PLUG Awards, Music Video of the Year), shot on 35mm in Budapest for one of the most critically lauded Canadian indie albums of the decade. Its unusual production circumstances, broke band, international shoot, no lead-singer on-screen, make it a singular document of mid-2000s indie ambition. The song itself was ranked in Pitchfork's Top 500 Tracks of the Decade and the video's aesthetic has become culturally iconic within the genre. Context: Released in 2006 as a promotional single from Wolf Parade's debut album Apologies to the Queen Mary (Sub Pop, 2005), this video arrived at the apex of the Montreal indie rock scene's international profile, a moment when bands like Wolf Parade, Arcade Fire, and Sunset Rubdown were redefining Canadian indie music globally. The decision to film in Budapest, Hungary on 35mm stock, despite the band being, by their own account, nearly broke, reflects the era's ethos of ambitious artistic risk-taking over commercial calculation. The video's anachronistic period-costume concept, divorced from any conventional performance format, exemplifies the mid-2000s indie tendency toward art-video surrealism. The song and video together earned the PLUG Award for Music Video of the Year, cementing their status as a touchstone of the era. Director notes: Directed in 2006 and released August 31, 2006. The video was filmed on location in Budapest, Hungary on 35mm film. The concept involves period-costumed performers in 17th/18th-century settings, including duels and a cast described as 'bizarre characters', with the band's two singers notably absent from the on-screen cast. The video won 'Music Video of the Year' at the PLUG Awards. The warm, low-saturation, high-contrast look of the footage is consistent with 35mm film stock captured under natural and practical light in exterior Hungarian locations.