Analysis of Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy

'Come To Daddy' by Aphex Twin shows genre characteristics as settings and actions in the video appear unreal or 'out of this world' as would generally be associated with this type of music. Many of their video's have this feel using things such as aliens and robots to take the audience away from a feeling of normality or reality. As their music is very alternative it allows for their video's to be very abstract so a video that would normally be looked upon as not normal in the charts is easily accepted as ordinary.

Although the work of Aphex Twin can be very abstract it still applies by many of the points made in Goodwin's criteria. There is an obvious relationship between the lyrics and visuals even though there are few words in the song and those that are there are repeated throughout. The video shows a 'creature' effectively collecting souls relating to the line 'I want your soul' and it growing in strength as people gravitate towards it. This also relates to the line 'come to daddy' as everyone appears to be heading towards the same character showing a authoritative or more influential figure. This is an illustrative relationship as the visuals overall show what is being said in the song. The use of children in this video once the creature is present also emphasises what is being said in the lyrics as it is like children running to their father however it puts a nasty twist on it as the object being run to wishes to remove the children's souls. This is quite a horrifying scene for the audience to see. There is also a clear relationship between the music and visuals. This is seen as the music is quite hectic and fast paced with an angry or aggressive feel paired with a video that changes shots quickly and with a slightly jumpy feel. As these shot changes are also on the beat of the music it emphasises the mood of the music. The colours are very drained throughout the video as well although not in black and white giving an eerie feel all together echoing the unrealistic feel of the video.

The record label does not require things such as close up shots of the artist or shots of performance however there is a very memorable visual style that occurs throughout their work. This style plays on the advertising campaign of Aphex Twin which aims to shock the audience and grab their attention using things such as a humans face which has been digitally altered to make the listener stop and look. The overall feel of this video is this as well as it has many elements of shock or horror to it with some quite brutal, emotive scenes such as when an alien type creature is towering over an old woman shouting. Repeatedly in this video and in many other Aphex Twin video's the eyes of any people or animals in the video cannot be seen. This is like a motif that can be seen across the artist work and creates a sense of wondering and fear within the audience.

There does not appear to be much intertextual reference however the use of an alien like creature could make the audience think of alien based films. The opening to this video also has the feel of a horror film as the colours are dark and depressing and there is no one around except for the old woman and her dog.