The Decemberists release Here Come The Waves: The Hazards Of Love Visualized as an iTunes exclusive December 1st
The Decemberists' epic song cycle The Hazards Of Love takes on new life today December 1st with the release of Here Come The Waves: The Hazards Of Love Visualized, a full-length video album available exclusively through iTunes, the first of a kind for the digital retailer.
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Here Come The Waves, which was debuted live in Los Angeles in October to rave reviews, is a collaboration with four filmmakers - Peter Sluszka, Julia Pott, Guilherme Marcondes, and Santa Maria - each of whom created original animation to accompany a section of the album.
The films were curated by Flux, and produced by Hornet.
Check out the new official trailer:
The Los Angeles Times described Here Come The Waves as "a tumbling series of visuals with four distinct aesthetic styles. Peter Sluszka's ultra-slow motion capture of exploding mushrooms and elegantly disseminating seed pods... Julia Pott's line art of wolves and foxes hovering in geometric constellations... Guilherme Marcondes' renderings of skeletons caught among leafless branches and verdant human arms that unfurl like ferns... Santa Maria provides context... with cosmic, computer-generated vistas, cartoons of splintering bones."
Billboard declared the piece "a stunning new 'visualizer' of four seamlessly-sequenced psychedelic videos inspired by the album's different acts," adding that "the visuals function as impressionistic landscapes and atmospheres evocative of the unfolding drama like a richly imagined liquid lightshow."
Variety wrote that "Here Come the Waves is the kind of project that could easily collapse under the weight of its pretensions. But it succeeded, brilliantly."
The OC Register raved "Truly, this show, a spectacle that any self-respecting music snob would drool over, set a magnificent precedent for the band’s future career, in the process elevating the Decemberists to the status of rock n’ roll visionaries - not to mention top-tier crowd-pleasers... The 'psychedelic animation' transitioned flawlessly back and forth from smooth computer animation to cartoonish scenes... the swirling juxtaposition of foreboding and lighthearted images portrayed the album’s binary conflict between good and evil perfectly."
The Hazards Of Love became one of the most discussed album's of the year when EMI's Capitol Records released it in March, and went on to become a thrilling live spectacle as the band performed the album in its entirety throughout the summer in front of sold-out audiences across the country from their hometown of Portland, Oregon, to New York's Radio City Music Hall, as well as major festivals including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.
About Flux:
Flux is a global creative community and collective led by RESFEST founder Jonathan Wells and designer/gallerist Meg Wells. Flux is an online journal, concept space, film/art/event hub where individuals from various creative fields can meet and share their work. Visit for www.flux.net more information.
About Hornet:
Hornet Inc. is a production company located in New York City that represents and produces the work of directors in an assortment of media. Ranging from live action, animation, mixed media, stop-motion, 2D, 3D and film; Hornet seeks great talent to develop and support their vision.
About The Filmmakers:
Peter Sluszka is a New York-based director with Hornet specializing in stop-motion animation and photo-based effects. He studied literature and visual arts at Columbia University, eventually contriving to combine his love of storytelling and visual innovation by studying stop-motion animation at the School of Visual Arts. Sluszka has directed animation for feature films, commercials, music videos, television series, and performance projections. He has collaborated with Michel Gondry and Pilobolus, and manipulated everything from traditional foam latex puppets to meat, origami, snow, and yarn.
Julia Pott is a freelance animator and illustrator working out of London and New York. Her clients include Malibu Rum, Picador, Chronicle Books, Picasso Pictures, Sherbet, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Of Montreal. Her work has been exhibited in London, the U.S. and Antwerp and her animations have been screened at Onedotzero, Rushes Soho Shorts, the Youtube Short Film of the Year Award, SXSW and Pangea Day. She collaborates with her fellow animators in the animation collective Treat Studios. She begins an MA in animation at the Royal College of Art in Fall 2009.
Guilherme Marcondes was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He started working as an illustrator while still in architecture school. In 2000 he joined the Brazilian animation studio Lobo where he worked for five years, eventually directing spots for international clients such as Diesel, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. In 2005 he went to London to direct the build-up campaign for that year's Europe Music Awards at MTV Networks. He came back to São Paulo and directed Tyger, a short film that won more than 20 awards around the world. Marcondes moved to the US in 2006 and worked for a year at the renowned studio Motion Theory. He currently works with Hornet, a New York-based production company representing directors in the areas of multimedia, directing short films and commercials.
Santa Maria is a directing team comprised of Josh Goodrich and David Hill. Working in both live action and animation, Santa Maria's vibrant mixed-media style evokes a playful, unexpected tone. For Goodrich and Hill, the creative process is a path of exploration. They are on a constant mission to fuse contrasting aesthetics, whether it’s integrating Native American and ‘80s motifs or merging folk art with techno design. Goodrich and Hill met at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where they studied computer animation and illustration, respectively. With their joint experience in illustration and computer animation, the two, directors at Hornet in New York, make a highly complementary team.
Here Come The Waves: The Hazards Of Love Visualized
DIRECTOR: PETER SLUSZKA
1. Prelude
2. The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle the Thistles Undone)
3. A Bower Scene
4. Wont Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)
DIRECTOR: JULIA POTT
1. The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)
2. The Queen's Approach
3. Isn’t it a Lovely Night?
4. The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid
5. An Interlude
DIRECTOR: GUILHERME MARCONDES
1. The Rake's Song
2. The Abduction of Margaret
3. The Queen's Rebuke / The Crossing
4. Annan Water
DIRECTOR: SANTA MARIA
1. Margaret in Captivity
2. The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)
3. The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise)
4. The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)
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