Washington – Remember when life was noisier? When dial-up Internet had a tone and analog clocks ticked and manual cameras clicked? Whether or not you remember, miss or never want to see those days again, chances are you will appreciate Bishop Allen’s ode to the long-silent sound of the shutter in “Click click click click camera” on their album The Broken String album.
The band’s song evokes a certain nostalgic feeling that is nicely counter-balanced by a lilting melody and lead singer Justin Rice’s calming, friendly voice. The premise is simple: a man ducks into a church for shelter from the rain and finds himself inadvertently inserting himself into a stranger’s wedding. The tune goes on to explore sensations of happiness and memory. Although complicated concepts, Bishop Allen does not get caught up in lofty, self-indulgent musings. Instead, the three-minute song is pleasantly devoid of personal angst and love stories. Besides one reference to a mysterious ‘You’ in Alphabet City, the singer directs his attention to describing his inadvertent participation in ‘Maria’s’ nuptial celebration and posing questions to the audience about their memories and place in life.
The song is definitely worth a listen for its own sake. Some of you may know it without knowing it – as a background ‘jingle’ in the film No Strings Attached or in TV show Greek, or even in the background of recent Sony advertisements. Do not dismiss it as a worthless sell-out. Let us not forget, as proud and self-proclaimed hipster-emo-alternative-quirky-uniquely-awesome music fans that our favorite bands must make money somehow (and god knows our generation’s aversion to paying for anything artistic does not permit most of our beloved musicians to do so). Additionally, for any of you YouTube fans out there, the video is definitely worth a look if you love horn- rimmed glasses, meticulously mussed hair, and old cameras. And let’s be honest, who amongst our particular crowd can resist that?