BREEZEBLOCKS NARRATIVE STUDY

By Sam Glover

“A delicate, macabre triumph” - Tom Howard.

“Breezeblocks” is a song from by alt-J’s debut studio album An Awesome Wave. It was released 18th May 2012 as the albums second single. The band are from the Cambridge, UK, and are considered to be indie rock, but have many other outside influences, such as electronic music. The lineup: Joe Newman (vocals), Gwil Sainsbury (bass) Thom Green (drums), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards, backing vocals).

NarrativeThe video is a reverse linear narrative; continuity editing allows the viewer to understand what is going on, but the reverse narrative leaves room for enthralling mystery and at times confuses the viewer. For example, at the beginning of the video, it is suggested that the man is the aggressor, but it is revealed by the end that the woman locked his wife up as a distraction to murder him with a knife from behind.

Throughout the video, there is the occasional interjection of not in reverse (presumably) ‘real-time’ shots; by this I mean the majority of the video acts as a flashback (potentially explaining the use of cold and dark, high contrast colouration), whereas the forward shots show what’s actually happening at the moment.This disruption in the continuity editing amplifies the horrible chaos which stems from domestic violence.Reverse narrative could also indicate the unreliability of memory, or refer to retracing one’s steps and be a personal recollection of the events.

Goodwin’s theoryGoodwin’s theory states that there will be a relationship between the lyrics and visuals; this is true for the most part. For example the opening line of the song is “She may contain the urge to run away, but hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks.” This coincides with the opening shot of a woman laying drowned and fully clothed in a bath with a breezeblock on her chest. To me, this implies that the woman was running away from the man, as he attempted to attack her. It is also shown that the man is wearing a wedding ring; this leads to the (incorrect) assumption that the two in the video are husband and wife. The phrase “the fear has gripped me but here I go” is also illustrated by the man (in reverse) bludgeoning the woman with the breezeblock. This suggests that the fear of being killed by her, has led him to retaliate; he is also scared of the implications of his actions.