Samo Sound Boy - “What Can I Do” (Official Video)

The emotional heft of Sam Griesemer’s debut album Begging Please is jarring. Griesemer is releasing his debut album as Samo Sound Boy, though he’s also half of DJ Dodger Stadium along with Jerome LOL. Additionally, the pair also co-founded and run L.A.’s Body High label together. Loosely based around Marvin Gaye’s paramount breakup record Here, My Dear, Griesemer’s debut album explores his own recent breakup in no uncertain terms. But as he made clear to me when we spoke over the phone at the beginning of March, this is an album that focuses on the entire process of falling in love; it’s an exercise in the holistic experience of meeting, infatuation, relating and dissolving.

To help flesh out that concept, the album is accompanied by a trilogy of videos that we’ve premiered on Stereogum. Today, we have the final installment for “What Can I Do,” a slow motion shot of a girl breaking down in tears during a dinner date. If that sounds simple or flip, you’ve never been on either side of this table. Part of why these videos feel so real is because they were shot by a real-life couple who are friends of Griesemer and frequently work with the label. Daniel Pappas — who also shot that DJ Dodger Stadium drone video — filmed his girlfriend Nathalie Love for each clip entirely on an iPhone. Griesemer elaborated on the process:

I made these three videos in L.A. with my friends Dan Pappas and Nathalie Love. (Dan directed them and Nathalie is the star. They are also a couple in real life.) The idea was to do a very simple and intimate series that would reflect the story of my album. Each video was entirely unscripted and filmed on Dan’s phone as a single continuous take. We filmed on a phone instead of a pro camera mostly because no one is going to bust you for not a having a permit that way, but also because it allowed for the background and locations to really come to life. I like these videos because everything going on in them is real. There was no set or crew or sound guy standing off camera. Just a real couple out in real places in the city.”