Apparently, lead singer Sam Endicott of semi-new, semi-“it” band The Bravery has lost the will to breathe—but not the will to make shitty music videos. In the band’s single, “Believe,” Endicott pleads for “something more to keep me breathing for.” The lyrics (despite the bad grammar) recall an Elliot Smith song, filled with dark and brooding imagery; but the video for “Believe” wastes its existential potential on cheap cliches.

What should have been a deeply moving and raw music video becomes a glorified iPod commercial, with slightly worse lighting, defective editing, and awkward crowd surfing.

As the band plays on a stage lined by flailing arms and hands, the camera randomly freezes the action into what resembles Warhol-esque snapshots. Yet these stills only remind the audience that The Bravery will probably never reach the epic proportions that made Elvis a legitimate subject for pop art. Interestingly, the video marks lead singer Endicott’s directorial debut. It’s all coming together now.

After some lame head-bobbing, Endicott crowd-surfs, or rather his superimposed, orange-tinted head digitally slides across the “crowd.” This automatically deducts any brownie points that might have been awarded to The Bravery for actually playing in their video. Then again, bands who actually achieve artistic integrity in their videos tend to hire professional directors.

Instead of viewing the video itself, simply visualize the aforementioned freeze-frames and digitally mastered crowd surfing to the following lyrics: “There’s a smell of stale fear that’s reeking from our skins / The drinking never stops because the drinks absolve our sins / We sit and grow our roots into the floor / But what are we waiting for?” Clearly, we’re waiting for you, Sir Endicott, as you falsely surf the crowd in search of hope… or another song to visually butcher.

—Mia P. Walker