Fast rising new kids
The Middle East have had a strange career arc so far.
In 2006 the Townsville collective self-released an EP that was picked up by precious few. There's scant information on the band's timeline between then and now, but the story goes that they disbanded somewhere around the time of self-releasing an album in 2008, before being rejuvenated somewhat by Spunk Record's Aaron Curnow selecting them for an "unsigned" artist singles collection, back in February of 2009. Cue Spunk related supports, radio picking up the swelling, Arcade Fire-esque track 'Blood', Spunk re-releasing their EP under the title
Recordings of The Middle East, headline shows, festival spots, good word of mouth leading to sold out signs...and here we are in September with the band now touting local and international management, international interest, and poised to climb up the timetable of upcoming Summer festivals to stoke the loop all over again.
We saw them during the year in Sydney at the
Spunk Records FBi fundraiser as well as
in Melbourne doing their own headline show, and were pretty damn impressed both times. Not all their ideas translated but the ones that do - most notably 'Blood' and 'The Darkest Side' - would be shining moments in the setlist of any band you'd care to mention.
Which brings us to this, their debut music video. Directed by Sydney art collective Greedy Hen, it's a beauty; if ultimately stiffed by it's stoic adherence to organic animation.
For the track 'Blood', the vid employs old-school animation techniques, using paper, watercolours, cut outs and paint to layer the piece. (Again very reminiscent of the Arcade Fire; this time Tracy Maurice's
vid for 'Laika'.) The thing looks beautiful in stills, but ultimately its herky-jerky animated flow spoils the telling. Maybe it's the run-off from watching so many videos online these days - anytime the picture stalls it translates as a shitty connection rather than an artistic conceit. You find yourself just wanting the damn thing to merge seamlessly with the unfolding fingerpicking, but...there it is. Lovely nontheless.
The Middle East - 'Blood'
The band are touring the East Coast in October as well as playing at the Meredith Music Festival in December.
THE MIDDLE EAST - OCTOBER TOUR 2009
Thursday October 8 – Princess Theatre, Brisbane QLD (All Ages)
with Jake Core & Dragging Pianos
Friday October 9 – Manning Bar, Sydney NSW (All Ages)
with Dragging Pianos & Jonathan Boulet
Saturday October 10 – ANU Bar, Canberra ACT
with Dragging Pianos & Margaret Helen King
Sunday October 11 – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne VIC
with Dragging Pianos & Oliver Mann
www.myspace.com/visitthemiddleeast