Beautiful new Caribou video is as heartbreaking as it is joyful

When a song is so moving and beautiful and spot-on, making a video for it can’t be an easy task. Something too saccharine would cheapen it, something too literal would feel a bit lame, and something too abstract could seem a lazy solution. Lorenzo Fonda, who has directed the video for Caribou’s I Can’t Do Without You, has deftly avoided all these pitfalls, creating a piece of film that’s beautiful, strange, colourful and gorgeously cinematic.

The narrative-driven piece shows a sweet little boy running about trying to catch an enormous, carnivalesque fish; its glorious tones and textures glistening in the sunlight adding a colour and somehow heightening the pathos of the track it illustrates. We won’t tell you what happens, but it’s as heartbreaking as it is joyful; following our unlikely stars through the countryside. The video does exactly what music videos should do – adding a new depth and meaning to a song while letting the listener drift off and form their own, personal narratives while enjoying the one we’re shown.