Five Indie Rock Videos Directed by Women in 2013

2013 sits at a useful hinge in independent music. Physical releases still mattered, but YouTube was changing how songs reached listeners, especially those beyond major-label networks. The year also brought greater visibility to directors whose work often received less attention than the bands and performers in front of the camera.

The five indie rock music videos directed entirely by women in 2013 gathered here share one clear fact: a woman held the credited director position. That does not mean every camera, lighting or editing credit belonged to a woman, but it does place creative control at the centre of the selection.

For Australian audiences, these films offered a useful counterweight to the idea that local music life depended on overseas trends. Triple J, Unearthed, Channel V and the fading borders of television gave Australian listeners regular paths into independent music, while regional scenes had their own distinct centres.

The videos span alternative rock, indie pop, funk and dance-rock, but they are united by sharply individual visual ideas. Each was released in 2013, belongs to the independent or alternative sphere and reveals how a female director could shape a song’s personality without relying on a single house style.

The 2013 selection and visual contrasts

The selection moves between a sunlit chase, macabre performance art, restrained urban imagery and colourful ensemble storytelling. The directors came from different backgrounds and worked at different scales, yet each treated the performers as active participants rather than decorative figures.

Artist and video	Director	Release	Visual emphasis
Haim, “The Wire”	Brett Turnbull	June 2013	Super 8 imagery, natural light and a restless chase
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Mosquito”	Floria Sigismondi	August 2013	Retro horror, surreal bodies and controlled menace
London Grammar, “Wasting My Young Years”	Diane Martel	2013	Low-lit performance and atmospheric restraint
Fitz and the Tantrums, “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody”	Malia	2013	Playful theatricality and an eccentric visual party
The Brand New Heavies, “Dream Your Life Away”	Sophie Muller	2013	Warm, performance-led images centred on musical chemistry

The comparison makes one point clear: “directed by women” is not a visual category. Turnbull’s handheld immediacy, Sigismondi’s horror tableaux and Malia’s heightened whimsy describe entirely different creative languages. Their common strength lies in making each song feel recognisably its own rather than fitting it into a familiar commercial template.

Distinct directing voices across the five films

Turnbull’s video for Haim’s “The Wire” treats the band’s close-knit energy as both subject and method. Super 8 footage, rapid movement and shifting daylight create the feeling of a private adventure unfolding in real time. The sisters are not simply posed in front of a camera; their movement, timing and interruptions shape the film’s restless energy.

Sigismondi takes a more theatrical route with Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Mosquito”. Her video draws on the visual language of vintage creature features, using staged bodies, exaggerated gestures and unsettling details to transform the song’s irritation into something stranger. The result is macabre without losing sight of the band’s abrasive performance style.

Martel’s work on London Grammar’s “Wasting My Young Years” is comparatively restrained. Negative space, subdued performance footage and nocturnal atmosphere allow the arrangement to register gradually. It suits a band whose identity depends on the tension between Hannah Reid’s voice, the rhythm section and the spaces around them.

Muller’s video for The Brand New Heavies’ “Dream Your Life Away” takes a performance-centred approach, allowing the song’s rotating guest vocals to become part of the storytelling. The warmth and collaborative spirit fit the record’s expansive production. By contrast, Malia turns Fitz and the Tantrums’ “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” into a theatrical visual event full of playful characters and heightened situations.

What the films meant for Australian listeners

Australian music consumption in 2013 crossed several channels. Triple J provided national radio exposure, Unearthed offered emerging acts a route through its judging process, and programs such as Rage supplied another outlet for videos. YouTube offered global reach, while Channel V and local television connected some clips with audiences who did not follow recommendation feeds.

Geography remained important. A band could build a following through a Newtown venue, a Brunswick warehouse or a Fortitude Valley club before appearing on a national screen. Australian conversation softened the presentation with familiar phrases such as “not bad”, “no worries” and “arvo”, but the underlying scene structures were distinct and often depended on a handful of trusted promoters, bookers and volunteers.

The market also required artists to work across several income streams. Radio servicing, APRA AMCOS licensing, the Australian charts and physical sales through JB Hi-Fi, Chemist Warehouse or independent record stores could all matter. A striking video might win attention, but live shows, word of mouth and repeated airplay often did more to sustain a career.

Those videos still faced the practical problem of reaching beyond their original audience. Modern services offering independent distribution support can widen a release’s territory, but digital reach does not automatically replace local radio, record-shop conversations or the trust generated at a live show. For Australian independent artists, that combination of national infrastructure and community-scale discovery remained crucial.

A viewing method that rewards the details

The strongest approach is to watch each clip more than once, first for its immediate effect and then for its construction. A director’s decisions become easier to recognise when the performance, setting, editing and colour are considered separately rather than collapsed into a single impression.

Sound can be just as revealing. Lady Indie’s cinematic-scoring drummer interview extends the connection between rhythm, narrative and image, showing how composers think about movement and atmosphere. That perspective is useful when music video is treated as a performance filmed through a dramatic lens rather than as a promotional extra.

• Watch the opening minute without reading comments or reviews, then note the first visual decision that establishes mood.
• Check the full directing and production credits rather than assuming the visible performer also controlled the film.
• Compare a studio video with a live performance to see which musical details survive the change of setting.
• Use Split or Die or similar research tools to understand how women were represented behind the camera.
• Revisit “Mosquito” on a small screen, where its composed horror reveals details that may disappear on a laptop.
• Keep a note of each director’s name, turning isolated discoveries into a trail through independent cinema and music.

The lasting value of a durable independent canon

These videos show that a music video can preserve the tension of a song while expanding its world. The directors understood that an independent release did not need to imitate a major-label campaign. It could be stranger, smaller, more personal or more physically playful, provided the visual idea belonged to the music.

Their value for Australia extends beyond the fact that they were available locally. The selection demonstrates how directors working within international independent scenes could shape genres that Australian musicians borrowed, adapted and made their own. Women directing these films also widened the possible images associated with indie rock, expanding it beyond a narrow set of familiar references.

The practical takeaway is to watch with the credits on and follow one director from each clip. Repeated attention turns a five-video survey into a pathway through independent music, film and performance, revealing where those paths intersect.