#blackwhales

[truebritdave]

Black Whales getting back to work!

[michelledirkse]

Check out the write-up from City Arts about the video I made!  

- - Dancing About Architecture by Jonathan Zwickel  - -

This music video pulls a lot of weight: Conceived and produced by interior designer Michelle Dirkse and featuring a song by Black Whales and choreography by Jamie Karlovich, "No Sign of Life" commingles music, dance, filmmaking, architecture and Seattle history. The story that lead to its creation is common in present-day Seattle, but as it traces a path through the 120-year-old Hull Building, home to Dirkse's office and recently slated for heavy renovation, the video achieves a rare and haunting beauty.

"I love this building and it's been sold," Dirkse says. "I've been given 12 months. So I wanted to make a video to document this history before it's gone." The owners of 50 years decided to sell the building because they couldn't afford the upkeep, and though development will certainly improve the place's livibility, something will be lost in the process.

Dirkse says that during Gold Rush-era Seattle, the three-story Hull housed a ground-floor furniture shop and hotel above. The video pans through a series of rooms cluttered with the left-behind belongings of former tenants—decades-old sewing machines, TVs, seamstress dummies—following Karlovich as she essentially unpacks a time capsule of personal ephemera accrued over the last century. Meanwhile, Black Whales' "No Sign of Life" describes the transition with eerie accuracy: There was once life here and, with luck, there may be again.

"My favorite room has paint peeling off all the surfaces. I wanted Erik [Hecht, director of photography] to focus on that texture. That’s kind of what Belltown is," Dirkse says. "It has a little bit of grit and I don’t wanna lose that."

- See more at: http://cityartsonline.com/articles/dancing-about-architecture#sthash.AS0fr8xc.dpuf

[kentuckychromedesign]

Major eye and ear candy happening at the @blackwhales show tonight in Ballard. #blackwhales #Seattle #music (at Sunset Traven)

[blackwhales]

A Midsummer Update

What does happen though, is that with all the experimenting and thinking and thinking and thinking that happens when trying to get a record together, we are afforded a long period of time to weed out the bad ideas. This might seem obvious, but instead of cranking shit out and moving on to the next seemingly good idea, we roll it around a bunch of times. Speaking for myself, I think I need to really get a sense of if-it-were-another-bands-song, would I actually like listening to it? If things are fast and simple, I tend to find myself being really hesitant and cautious. I need to know my answers are all 'yes'.

We also like to work with big idea people as often as possible, and as you'd expect, big idea people are usually in pretty high demand. It almost always results in a slow moving process and lots of timing things and scheduling. This results, in turn, in lots of waiting and repeating. 

The good news for us and you loyal few still reading, is that the record we've been making is almost done. It's been mailed to LA and the things were hearing in our inbox are all good. More than good in fact. I'm so pleased with this record that I'm saying 'yes' to everything, and that's all I need really. We'll let you know when you can agree or disagree too, soon. 

Thanks for all of your ongoing support. We appreciate it.

- Alex