Jim Longden directs a lovely one-shot video for French indie band Oracle Sisters - shortlisted at this year's UK Music Video Awards - in which actor Charlie Rowe gives a virtuoso performance. Performances, in fact.The jumping off point for Rowe's tour de force in the promo for Alouette is a meta moment when he gets a call from his agent to be told that the director has chosen someone else, who's 'more wild', to appear in their music video. In his fury and disappointment, he is driven to show exactly what the video director will be missing.So he proceeds to go into character as a an old, quickly changing to become a Mafioso gangster, and then changing again and again, switching clothes, using conveniently placed props to aid his portrayals - and also playing with cardboard cutouts of the band - whilst manically advancing across a West London park. The strength of the idea, and Rowe's performance is underlined by the execution in a single Steadicam shot and the setting. As the pace between the actor's character-switches, and the energy becomes increasingly manic, the camerawork gets more frantic, the comedic value increases. And it ends to great pay-off, as its revealed the young director is, well, very young indeed. Excellent work.

Eoin Glaister's fourth video for Glass Animals is a bittersweet tale of friendship, even love - between an alien and a cow. And you don't get much more Eoin Glaister than that.In the video for Show Pony, a couple of mid 20th century-style space aliens crashland their flying saucer on Earth - in the countryside among placid, bovine local inhabitants. One of their number advances on the intruders with curiosity, and the female alien responds in kind - leading to surprising consequences.So prepare yourselves for unlikely, dysfunctional aliens, jokes about salted snacks, sudden violence, a big fire and a tragicomic twist - all set in a location among rolling hills and greenery resembling the Scottish Highlands, but was in fact, in Mexico. It's a beautifully crafted film, with wonderful attention to detail on production design, costume design and the style of cinematography by DoP Natasha Duursma which delivers a warm and nostalgic atmosphere around Glaister's story - a characteristically outlandish and charming silent comedy.The promo leans into the 70s theme aesthetics that is synonymous with the band and hinges on ingenious craft: tailormade alien costumes, prosthetics, miniatures, and, of course, the all-important wrangling of disobedient cows - provided via the production services of Stink Films Mexico.Glaister says that Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley had an idea which started the ball rolling for Show Pony, which he then developed through the classic space alien archetype from 20th century pop culture to the addition of the unusual object of affection.His association with Glass Animals goes back a while: the videos for Pork Soda and Agnes in 2017. Then last year he resumed working with the band, directing the cleverly meta video for The Other Side Of Paradise last year (although that song comes from the same album as the previous videos). And now comes Show Pony, from the band's new album I Love You So F***ing Much. “Dave had a personal story he wanted to play out through aliens - I ran with this and added a cow," says Glaister. "Naive really, given how hard they are to direct. We shot this in Mexico which was an incredible experience. Locations were stunning, crew were exceptional, cast ideal and the constant quesadillas spot on. Other than a run-in with the Mexican army and being extorted by the police, the shoot was a breeze.”

Niall Trask directs a fun-filled promo for indie-dance supergroup Decius, presenting the strange story of a man deeply connected to his car.The video for Walking In The Heat sees lead singer Lias Saoudi (also frontman of Fat White Family) escorted to a car wash in the back of the vehicle - a 1970s Lotus Elan - which he then cleans in a passionate, homoerotic montage. Blending comedy with some great character work, Trask brings out some surprisingly heartwarming moments amongst all the gyrating and hose spilling, reflecting the solace and rebellion Saoudi shares in the bond with his vehicle.It's weird, but in a very good way.

Nerve, Songer, & D Double E head for a workout in Bailey Tom Bailey's sweaty, funny promo for Tonkz. Opening with a definition of the word 'Tonk' (in this context, to have big, well developed muscles), the video takes place in a small gym, where each artist has their own time to shine. With Nerve and Songer working out, D Double E does the rounds as a pestering personal trainer - and acts as a narrator of sorts, leading viewers around the space, as the other artists weave in and out of the performance.With a simple brief for a video in a bodybuilding gym, director Bailey felt the macho set brimming with comedy potential to complement the in-your-face, humorous track. To push the concept to its most absurd for the finale, Bailey recalled videos of powerlifters who, at the peak of their extension, end up vomiting into the crowd, imagining D Double E pushing a client too far and hastening that messy conclusion. FIlmed at the independent TNT Gym in Songer’s hometown of Reading - which had just undergone a new all-red paint job - Bailey Tom Bailey has provided a comedic vision which perfectly aligns the upbeat track, and the colour scheme of the location. “I’ve found comedy to be a mode that can contain my diverse ideas," he says. "I want to create things that are fun, surreal with a subversive or transgressive edge. Aesthetically, I try to create a world and visual language for each project, which I find naturally evolves from the idea."Often my work achieves colour cohesion through removing colour. So I was keen [with Tonkz] to create a look both dramatic and high contrast while still remaining colourful. The colour scheme was dominated by reds in the location already so it was natural to reflect this in the wardrobe.”