Norwegian director Kasper Häggströmm immediately made an impression with his 2017 music video for Kelly Lee Owens’ ‘Throwing Lines’, which showcases his background in comedy and his enormous talent for absurd storytelling. Since then, he has developed a small but amazing catalogue of music videos that strike a fine balance between mundanity and surreality.
Watching his music videos, I’m struck by how the characters quietly accept the inescapability of their situation. Endlessly waiting for your turn when there’s no queue, endlessly staring at a toaster that makes your bread disappear, or allowing yourself to be captured and ‘released’ back into your corporate job. It sounds bleak, but through their simplicity and absurdity, his videos become fascinating and hilarious.
Your short film Cows, co-directed with Jakob Márky, recently premiered at the Göteborg Film Festival. How did you and Jakob come up with the concept of this film?
The idea came from an anecdote about the French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s first lecture outside of France. I can’t say too much without spoiling the punchline of the film, but we came across the story and decided to write a script based on the event.
In 2023 you won a UK Music Video Award for ‘The Blades’ by Squid. I found this video to be very funny yet incredibly infuriating. The little kid on the bus was particularly upsetting for me. How did you decide to end the video this way?
Thank you! The kid on the bus was a way to make the idea a bit bigger. I just liked the fact that it felt like a universal problem/phenomenon rather than a one time event. If we had cut to black after Charlotte Ritchie left the civic centre, the video would (in my mind) have felt a bit anticlimactic.
The music video for ‘The Blades’ stars Charlotte Ritchie, and you’ve previously worked with Mike Wozniak for Flyte’s ‘I Still Believe in You’. Both actors competed in series 11 of the UK comedy show Taskmaster. Are there any other Taskmaster contestants you would like to work with?
Ha! I haven’t thought of that. I loved working with both Mike and Charlotte so I should probably watch more Taskmaster.
Your music videos have been described as uncanny, kafkaesque, mysterious, and also hilarious. Are there specific works or artists that inspired your style?
I usually try to write something I find funny. Then, when we’re in production I try to take the visual approach as seriously as possible so the end product (hopefully) lands in something that feels both beautiful and silly. I guess the two things I constantly fall back on when looking for inspiration are The Simpsons and Jonathan Glazer.
In 2021 you directed the music video for Radiohead’s previously unreleased song ‘If You Say the Word’. Over the years, Radiohead has established such a strong vision and mood across their music videos. Was it difficult to approach the project without being influenced too much by their previous visual output?
For me it was the other way around. I’ve been watching Radiohead videos since I was a teenager and I always loved their visual and conceptual approach. So I would say I was more drawn to making something that already felt like it belonged to their catalog of videos rather than making something that stood out too much.
Watching the video for ‘Corner of My Sky’ multiple times, I became very amused by the thought of you and your crew driving through Wales with a pile of toasted bread. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve had to do for a project?
I can’t really point to a certain scene or a moment. For me I think the weirdest moments often happen on commercial shoots. You can film a close up of a man looking at his house burning down and someone yelling out behind you “Does he have to look so sad?”.
But yes, the toast spread out in Wales was pretty strange, but we were on such a tight schedule that I didn’t really have time to reflect on it.
Thank you so much for answering my questions. Final one: have you seen any work or artist recently that you found particularly inspiring or impressive?
I still love music videos and even though he’s been making videos for a while now I get more and more impressed by Aube Perrie’s work.
More Kasper Häggström:
An interview about making ‘Corner of My Sky’
Discussing his work on The Promonews Podcast
Discussing his work on Canal180’s Director ID series
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