Amelia’s Magazine | Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl: a review of the Mime Festival 2011 show at the Barbican

She and Him
She and Him

She and Him are cool eh? Zooey Deschanel in the vintage clothes I would love in my collection and marvelous fringe, approved and Matt Ward, information pills wearing his sunglasses and nonchalance. They’re also very happy sounding, buy which is great when strolling along a beach or beetling about in an open top car. But also when our beloved month of January is upon us, and we don’t reside in the Southern Hemisphere. Joyous music can be very important for SAD (seasonal affective disorder) fighting. Like Angel Delight, oh so sweet, it’s a joy to surround ourselves with sunny sounding high notes and chorus ‘badadadaaaas’. Ah swimming in a dessert bowl. Together these two create dreamy, poppy, nostalgic music that’s gentle, pleasant and cute as a button.

So, as a sunny treat, here we have the premiere of the new video for She & Him’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ (Domino Records) directed by Jeremy Konner.

She & Him – Don’t Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Ward says on their website: “There are a lot of people who write music so that they can take their audience to a dark night of their own soul or to get something really heavy off their chest. I don’t think Zooey looks at music that way, and I think that’s a huge part of where her songwriting is coming from. Certain people write songs to make other people feel good. When I think about some of my favorite singers, like Sam Cooke or people of that generation, I think that they saw their gift as the ability to make people feel better, to feel happy. It’s contagious to be around people like that.” Delightful.

She and Him

She and Him are cool eh? Zooey Deschanel in the vintage clothes I would love in my collection and marvelous fringe, adiposity and Matt Ward, link wearing his sunglasses and nonchalance. They’re also very happy sounding, which is great when strolling along a beach or beetling about in an open top car. But also when our beloved month of January is upon us, and we don’t reside in the Southern Hemisphere. Joyous music can be very important for SAD (seasonal affective disorder) fighting. Like Angel Delight, oh so sweet, it’s a joy to surround ourselves with sunny sounding high notes and chorus ‘badadadaaaas’. Ah swimming in a dessert bowl. Together these two create dreamy, poppy, nostalgic music that’s gentle, pleasant and cute as a button.

So, as a sunny treat, here we have the premiere of the new video for She & Him’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ (Domino Records) directed by Jeremy Konner.

She & Him – Don’t Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Ward says on their website: “There are a lot of people who write music so that they can take their audience to a dark night of their own soul or to get something really heavy off their chest. I don’t think Zooey looks at music that way, and I think that’s a huge part of where her songwriting is coming from. Certain people write songs to make other people feel good. When I think about some of my favorite singers, like Sam Cooke or people of that generation, I think that they saw their gift as the ability to make people feel better, to feel happy. It’s contagious to be around people like that.” Delightful.

She and Him

She and Him are cool eh? Zooey Deschanel in the vintage clothes I would love in my collection and marvelous fringe, clinic and Matt Ward, no rx wearing his sunglasses and nonchalance. They’re also very happy sounding, page which is great when strolling along a beach or beetling about in an open top car. But also when our beloved month of January is upon us, and we don’t reside in the Southern Hemisphere. Joyous music can be very important for SAD (seasonal affective disorder) fighting. Like Angel Delight, oh so sweet, it’s a joy to surround ourselves with sunny sounding high notes and chorus ‘badadadaaaas’. Ah swimming in a dessert bowl. Together these two create dreamy, poppy, nostalgic music that’s gentle, pleasant and cute as a button.

So, as a sunny treat, here we have the premiere of the new video for She & Him’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ (Merge US, Domino RecordsUK) directed by Jeremy Konner.

She & Him – Don’t Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Ward says on their website: “There are a lot of people who write music so that they can take their audience to a dark night of their own soul or to get something really heavy off their chest. I don’t think Zooey looks at music that way, and I think that’s a huge part of where her songwriting is coming from. Certain people write songs to make other people feel good. When I think about some of my favorite singers, like Sam Cooke or people of that generation, I think that they saw their gift as the ability to make people feel better, to feel happy. It’s contagious to be around people like that.” Delightful.

She and Him

She and Him are cool eh? Zooey Deschanel in the vintage clothes I would love in my collection and marvelous fringe, stuff and Matt Ward, tadalafil wearing his sunglasses and nonchalance. They’re also very happy sounding, ask which is great when strolling along a beach or beetling about in an open top car. But also when our beloved month of January is upon us, and we don’t reside in the Southern Hemisphere. Joyous music can be very important for SAD (seasonal affective disorder) fighting. Like Angel Delight, oh so sweet, it’s a joy to surround ourselves with sunny sounding high notes and chorus ‘badadadaaaas’. Ah swimming in a dessert bowl. Together these two create dreamy, poppy, nostalgic music that’s gentle, pleasant and cute as a button.

So, as a sunny treat, here we have the premiere of the new video for She & Him’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ (Merge US, Domino RecordsUK) directed by Jeremy Konner.

She & Him – Don’t Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Ward says on their website: “There are a lot of people who write music so that they can take their audience to a dark night of their own soul or to get something really heavy off their chest. I don’t think Zooey looks at music that way, and I think that’s a huge part of where her songwriting is coming from. Certain people write songs to make other people feel good. When I think about some of my favorite singers, like Sam Cooke or people of that generation, I think that they saw their gift as the ability to make people feel better, to feel happy. It’s contagious to be around people like that.” Delightful.

She and Him

She and Him are cool eh? Zooey Deschanel in the vintage clothes I would love in my collection and marvelous fringe, approved and Matt Ward, more about wearing his sunglasses and nonchalance. They’re also very happy sounding, which is great when strolling along a beach or beetling about in an open top car. But also when our beloved month of January is upon us, and we don’t reside in the Southern Hemisphere. Joyous music can be very important for SAD (seasonal affective disorder) fighting. Like Angel Delight, oh so sweet, it’s a joy to surround ourselves with sunny sounding high notes and chorus ‘badadadaaaas’. Ah swimming in a dessert bowl. Together these two create dreamy, poppy, nostalgic music that’s gentle, pleasant and cute as a button.

So, as a sunny treat, here we have the premiere of the new video for She & Him’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ (Merge US, Domino RecordsUK) directed by Jeremy Konner.

She & Him – Don’t Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Ward says on their website: “There are a lot of people who write music so that they can take their audience to a dark night of their own soul or to get something really heavy off their chest. I don’t think Zooey looks at music that way, and I think that’s a huge part of where her songwriting is coming from. Certain people write songs to make other people feel good. When I think about some of my favorite singers, like Sam Cooke or people of that generation, I think that they saw their gift as the ability to make people feel better, to feel happy. It’s contagious to be around people like that.” Delightful.

She and Him

She and Him are cool eh? Zooey Deschanel in the vintage clothes I would love in my collection and marvelous fringe, medicine and Matt Ward, viagra wearing his sunglasses and nonchalance. They’re also very happy sounding, which is great when strolling along a beach or beetling about in an open top car. But also when our beloved month of January is upon us, and we don’t reside in the Southern Hemisphere. Joyous music can be very important for SAD (seasonal affective disorder) fighting. Like Angel Delight, oh so sweet, it’s a joy to surround ourselves with sunny sounding high notes and chorus ‘badadadaaaas’. Ah swimming in a dessert bowl. Together these two create dreamy, poppy, nostalgic music that’s gentle, pleasant and cute as a button.

So, as a sunny treat, here we have the premiere of the new video for She & Him’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ (Merge US, Domino Records UK) directed by Jeremy Konner.

She & Him – Don’t Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Ward says on their website: “There are a lot of people who write music so that they can take their audience to a dark night of their own soul or to get something really heavy off their chest. I don’t think Zooey looks at music that way, and I think that’s a huge part of where her songwriting is coming from. Certain people write songs to make other people feel good. When I think about some of my favorite singers, like Sam Cooke or people of that generation, I think that they saw their gift as the ability to make people feel better, to feel happy. It’s contagious to be around people like that.” Delightful.

She and Him

She and Him are cool eh? Zooey Deschanel in the vintage clothes I would love in my collection and marvelous fringe, page and Matt Ward, wearing his sunglasses and nonchalance. They’re also very happy sounding, which is great when strolling along a beach or beetling about in an open top car. But also when our beloved month of January is upon us, and we don’t reside in the Southern Hemisphere. Joyous music can be very important for SAD (seasonal affective disorder) fighting. Like Angel Delight, oh so sweet, it’s a joy to surround ourselves with sunny sounding high notes and chorus ‘badadadaaaas’. Ah swimming in a dessert bowl. Together these two create dreamy, poppy, nostalgic music that’s gentle, pleasant and cute as a button.

So, as a sunny treat, here we have the premiere of the new video for She & Him’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ (Merge US, Domino Records UK) directed by Jeremy Konner.

She & Him – Don’t Look Back from Merge Records on Vimeo.

Ward says on their website: “There are a lot of people who write music so that they can take their audience to a dark night of their own soul or to get something really heavy off their chest. I don’t think Zooey looks at music that way, and I think that’s a huge part of where her songwriting is coming from. Certain people write songs to make other people feel good. When I think about some of my favorite singers, like Sam Cooke or people of that generation, I think that they saw their gift as the ability to make people feel better, to feel happy. It’s contagious to be around people like that.” Delightful indeed.

Flesh and Blood by Stacie Swift
Flesh and Blood by Stacie Swift.

Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl was inspired by photographs of the Ukrainian town of Pripyat near Chernobyl, tadalafil taken many years after the city was abandoned to radiation. They show the buildings and streets overtaken with plants and animals, hospital which have happily returned to build homes amongst the human detritus.

Flesh and Blood office

The impressively depressing (yet realistic) stage set features the interior of an office for Convenience Foods: dead plants and old mugs litter the desks and the walls sprout crumpled charts and post it notes. It is into this nightmarish world that Jerry, played by Geoff Sobelle, emerges, rolling gracelessly out of a dumpster inside which he has presumably spent the night, and hobbling a few steps to his desk.

Office Deer by Sarah Matthews
Office Deer by Sarah Matthews.

The lengthy intro features a zany fight with a buzzing fly that refuses to die, before we’re introduced to his office colleague Rhoda, played with relish by Charlotte Ford. Despite their dysfunctional relationship she’s clearly interested in developing a more intimate arrangement with her middle management foe, artlessly arching her bottom in his direction as she microwaves her lunch repeatedly.

Office Squirrel by Sarah Matthews
Office Squirrel by Sarah Matthews.

The only time they communicate with words is in cringeworthy office jargon against the backdrop of a wonky Leadership poster featuring a lion’s head superimposed over a mountain. It’s all too easily recognisable as the kind of office that litters the business estates of the UK, which is interesting because Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl is performed by Americans.

Office-Bear-by-Sarah Matthews
Office Bear by Sarah Matthews.

Both Geoff Sobelle and Charlotte Ford are trained clowns, adept at using exaggerated body movement and facial expressions to convey repressed feelings that eventually rise to the surface as the theatre set is taken over by a series of stuffed animals and plastic undergrowth.

Mime Festival Rhoda by Sarah Alfarhan
Rhoda by Sarah Alfarhan.

Before long they are mating loudly in the dumpster, from which Jerry emerges disgusted that his animal instincts have at last taken over, immediately spraying his body with disinfectant. As the animals continue to stake their claim over the environment Jerry desperately clings to obsessive compulsive means of control, all of which eventually fail.

Flesh and Blood And Fish and Fowl by Mira Tazkia
Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl by Mira Tazkia.

The programme says very little about the meaning of Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl, preferring instead – in the great manner of mime – to leave the story to unfold through the telling. But it seems clear that this is a tale of human folly, and how, ultimately, our environment will have the last laugh of all. It’s a testament to the performers’ clowning expertise that what could so easily have come across as uncompromisingly depressing is instead one of the funniest shows I’ve ever seen.

Charlotte Ford & Geoff Sobelle

Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl is showing at The Pit in the Barbican as part of the London International Mime Festival for the rest of this week. Surreal, funny, disturbing and thought provoking, as I twittered on the night of the performance, this was a brilliant piece of mime: I urge you to grab a ticket now.

The Mime Festival is London’s longest running annual theatre event, encompassing visual theatre of all kinds. It runs from 15th-30th January and features a huge range of performances. Why not check out their calendar of events here?

Categories ,barbican, ,Berny M, ,Charlotte Ford, ,Chernobyl, ,Clowns, ,Convenience Foods, ,Flesh and Blood & Fish and Fowl, ,Geoff Sobelle, ,Jerry, ,London International Mime Festival, ,Mime Festival 2011, ,Mira Tazkia, ,Philadelphia, ,Pit Theatre, ,Pripyat, ,Rhoda, ,Sarah Alfarhan, ,Sarah Matthews, ,Stacie Swift, ,The Pit

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Amelia’s Magazine | Kotki Dwa introduce the video for new single Poison, created with Plastic Horse

Poison_kotki dwa
Poison is typically and beautifully Kotki Dwa – a jaunty, melodic bounce fest of a song based upon the theme of Poison…. I asked singer Alex Ostrowski about the clever video which accompanies their new release.

YouTube Preview Image
What is your poison?
Pineapple Juice.. Ahhhhhhhh

What’s going on in your new video? You’ve overlaid all sorts of interesting images. What effect were you hoping to achieve and how did you do this?
The song is quite all-over-the-place lyrically and we wanted to reflect that somehow. Our friends Plastic Horse made the video with us, they’re pretty bonkers. We looked a lot at the old title sequence for Roald Dahl‘s Tales Of The Unexpected – brilliant. I suppose the video itself is kind of hallucinatory and poisoned, that’s the idea. Bit delusional.

Kotki Dwa poison video lady
Kotki Dwa poison video
Explain: Canaries, mines, breaking waves, clowns, roulette, Saturn’s rings.
They used to take canaries down mines to detect toxic gases like methane and carbon monoxide. Because the little birds are more sensitive than humans, they’d get poisoned first, giving humans enough time to get out of there. Pretty sad. The waves are about a book I read called Night Haunts that explains what goes on at night in the sewers under the city to prevent these giant grease balls from blocking up the place. Imagine. Clowns = weekend leisure (check out Slava’s Snow Show when you have a minute). Roulette wheel is kind of for Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected. And Saturn comes from the Planetarium, a personal favourite. Go.

Kotki Dwa poison video canary
Kotki Dwa poison video saturn
What has Kotki Dwa got planned for 2012?
We’re bursting with excitement about this year. We’ve been working on a new album for the last year and a bit, and we’re currently recording it. But there’s a pretty big twist about how we’re going to release it. All secret for now, but big announcements to make at the end of March! Album due this Summer :)

Kotki Dwa poison video police
Posion by Kotki Dwa was released on the 12th March 2012. Get your copy from bandcamp now!

Categories ,Alex Ostrowski, ,Canaries, ,Clowns, ,Kotki Dwa, ,Night Haunts, ,Planetarium, ,Plastic Horse, ,Poison, ,Polish, ,review, ,Roald Dahl, ,Saturn, ,single, ,Slava’s Snow Show, ,Tales Of The Unexpected, ,video

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Amelia’s Magazine | Kotki Dwa introduce the video for new single Poison, created with Plastic Horse

Poison_kotki dwa
Poison is typically and beautifully Kotki Dwa – a jaunty, melodic bounce fest of a song based upon the theme of Poison…. I asked singer Alex Ostrowski about the clever video which accompanies their new release.

YouTube Preview Image
What is your poison?
Pineapple Juice.. Ahhhhhhhh

What’s going on in your new video? You’ve overlaid all sorts of interesting images. What effect were you hoping to achieve and how did you do this?
The song is quite all-over-the-place lyrically and we wanted to reflect that somehow. Our friends Plastic Horse made the video with us, they’re pretty bonkers. We looked a lot at the old title sequence for Roald Dahl‘s Tales Of The Unexpected – brilliant. I suppose the video itself is kind of hallucinatory and poisoned, that’s the idea. Bit delusional.

Kotki Dwa poison video lady
Kotki Dwa poison video
Explain: Canaries, mines, breaking waves, clowns, roulette, Saturn’s rings.
They used to take canaries down mines to detect toxic gases like methane and carbon monoxide. Because the little birds are more sensitive than humans, they’d get poisoned first, giving humans enough time to get out of there. Pretty sad. The waves are about a book I read called Night Haunts that explains what goes on at night in the sewers under the city to prevent these giant grease balls from blocking up the place. Imagine. Clowns = weekend leisure (check out Slava’s Snow Show when you have a minute). Roulette wheel is kind of for Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected. And Saturn comes from the Planetarium, a personal favourite. Go.

Kotki Dwa poison video canary
Kotki Dwa poison video saturn
What has Kotki Dwa got planned for 2012?
We’re bursting with excitement about this year. We’ve been working on a new album for the last year and a bit, and we’re currently recording it. But there’s a pretty big twist about how we’re going to release it. All secret for now, but big announcements to make at the end of March! Album due this Summer :)

Kotki Dwa poison video police
Posion by Kotki Dwa was released on the 12th March 2012. Get your copy from bandcamp now!

Categories ,Alex Ostrowski, ,Canaries, ,Clowns, ,Kotki Dwa, ,Night Haunts, ,Planetarium, ,Plastic Horse, ,Poison, ,Polish, ,review, ,Roald Dahl, ,Saturn, ,single, ,Slava’s Snow Show, ,Tales Of The Unexpected, ,video

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