Here at ÉCU we haven’t shied away from bringing you awesome music videos that also tread that very thin (and much discussed) line between art and erotica. After ‘Baby Baby Baby’ and ‘Bombay’, a video that pushed the boundaries even further caught our eye: The new Handsome Furs video for ‘What About Us’, directed by Scott Coffey. Warning: Extremely NSFW. Seriously, unless you work in the porn industry, or your boss is a liberal naturist, wait til you get home to watch the following clip. Scott Coffey is a very interesting guy, and has worked with people like Robert Zemeckis and David Lynch (he had a role in Mulholland Drive). After starting in Broadway, he moved onto to TV and films, and then turned his hand to directing, including 4 music videos. His latest video, ‘What about Us’ by Handsome Furs, is a pretty strange head trip full of nudity, night vision, great dance moves and outdoor sex. Coffey defends his direction of the video thus: I think the record is dripping in empathy and questioning freedom and feeling, said Coffey. We’re a nation of prudes conversely wallowing in pornography. I wanted to make the diametric opposite of porn. What is that? Intimacy…Real feeling. We live in a world where that seems transgressive now, added Coffey. So according to Coffrey his video is a reflection of the strong emotional substance in the Handsome Furs record, and instead of a fake, staged video he is representing the music with a thoughtful intimacy, that may shock us, but at least it’s real (he claims). The video is well directed, cleverly shot, with some nice surreal influences and a dark, moody atmosphere that suits the record well. Furthermore, I can appreciate how its intentions are to deepen the argument surrounding censorship. However in typical fashion there are far more glimpses of naked women than of men (a constant problem that covers the entire length and breadth of the music industry, this isn’t just restricted to awful gangster rap videos) and is it really showcasing anything we haven’t seen before? Is ‘Indie’ female nudity and sexual promiscuity somewhere different to any other kind? I’ll leave it up to you to decide, and please, as I already said, wait til you get to the privacy of your own home. vimeo.com/26111637