Mykonos

The great Fleet Foxes were an enchanting diversion last year while the economy careened down a slippery slope. I remember listening to Mykonos first while walking across Birmingham's city centre on a sunny April day, and the song has retained its charm through 50 or more plays (according to my iTunes).

A video of the song has been released by Grandchildren, and having just watched it I can't help feeling a little disappointed. The character of the two halves of the song doesn't seem to have been accurately captured. To me, the first half has a soaring, aerial quality, bathed in a Greek sun - blue, white and olive green. The second half is earth-bound, acappella changing to an assertive, insistent 4/4 rhythm, before a loping reggae conclusion. As it concludes in this half, the words and music seem to begin on a hilltop, before running and skipping downhill across a pastoral landscape.

Apart from the crafted Oliver Postgate quality there seemed to be little to connect the images to the music or the band, despite the worthy efforts of tackling a stop motion process.