Video Premiere Winternationale
Part of Melbourne‘s fervent, dark-tinged, alternative underground music scene, Australian bass and drums post-punk experimentalists, Winternationale, made up of Guy Harris (bass, vocals) and Maya Ruin (drums), have just released the first of the two videos to accompany their recent 7″ vinyl single “Over your cities” put out by the independent imprint Almanac Recordings.
“Over your cities” is now one of the few guitar based songs left in Winternationale‘s current set with the band gravitating to the bass more in recent times. When it’s played live it’s loud and wild and chaotic.
In the mastering process it was suggested that the track was tamed a little but what was decided upon in the end was the slightly more chaotic mix because it seemed to offer a more authentic representation of the song as the duo have always felt it should be played live. Despite the fact that its just guitar and drums, this minimalist approach doesn’t seem to detract from the track’s sense of urgency with the drive and cadence of Mish Colla‘s tribal drumming serving to push the chaotic guitars ever forward.
Lyrically, Harris looks toward the near future and conflates providence with personal concerns. He sings for ghosts past, present and future in ”Over your cities” with vocals pushed to the point of breaking as the song pummels towards it’s conclusion and the bitterment of its closing salvo where Harris directly asks the listener “How does your garden grow?”.
Filmed by guitarist & vocalist Guy Harris on a recent trip to Ireland, the clip features Dublin‘s Natural History Museum (known by locals as ‘The Dead Zoo’) and hints at the “vanitas” artistic tradition to expand on a number of gothic literary themes expressed in the track “Over your cities”.
An arresting clip shot in black and white featuring Victorian era taxidermy, the track and accompanying video offer a timely meditation on modernity for contemporary times increasingly overshadowed by the spectre of the anthropocene.
Accompanying the release of the video, Winternationale have also published an essay which can be read in full on the band’s website.
https://winternationale.wordpress.com/words/
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