On the evening of Friday 17th February at London Fashion Week, I went to St Giles In The Fields Church in Holborn to watch Alexandra Groover’s A/W 2012 collection presented through a short film called DEATH. Since I attended Show Studio’s exhibition Fashion Revolution at Somerset House in 2009 I have developed a keen interest in fashion films and the way in which more and more fashion designers choose to show their work via this medium. DEATH was the final instalment in Groover’s trilogy of short films, following two previous ones titled BIRTH and LIFE.
Unfortunately as I walked into the dark church to take my seat I was informed I could not take photos, which did make sense as I am sure the choice of venue played some part in the atmosphere Alexandra Groover wished to create around the viewing of her film. There is a sense of reverence in most of us, I think, when we enter a religious building – whether we are religious or not – and getting properly into that respectful state was appropriate for an audience about to watch characters exiting this world.
In the short film DEATH the two protagonists were artists and married couple Inesa Vaiciute De La Roche and Barrington De La Roche of Dark Theatre, who are both very striking in themselves and as a duo, their age difference creating a beautiful contrast. Indeed the looks of Barrington De La Roche – something close to Sir Christopher Lee in The Lord of The Rings, with long grey hair and dark, strong eyes, but without the long beard – was one of the most fascinating things I took away with me from the evening. The fact that this otherworldly being was walking around and chatting whilst serving wine during the film screenings was also quite entertaining.
The video was a ritual, taking place also in a church, during which a man and a woman were slowly led towards the altar in a dream-like state surrounded by what looked like illuminated blue petals on the floor and then reddish fairy lights on their bodies. These glowing flower forms reminded me of the quote by Edvard Munch at the opening page of the booklet for this season’s presentation which read ‘from my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity’. As the characters reached the altar, death figures searched them up and down and then assisted them into an embrace and a kiss. At the culmination of the film there was a large figure placed against the window behind the altar extending its two arms like wings. Wing-like extensions of fabric were also wrapped around the man and the woman about to die, as if to unite them forever.
The first image that emerged in my mind when I saw Alexandra Groover’s A/W 2012 collection was that of Death in Ingmar Bergman’s film The Seventh Seal. Her signature all-black hoods and winged drawstring garments worn with jersey ponchos, surcoat tops, tutelary skirts and black leggings definitely have something medieval about them – especially when seen in an ecclesiastical context.
For the shoes in the collection Alexandra Groover collaborated for the third time with London footwear designer Benjamin John Hall, the soundtrack was created by musician Dave.i.d and the film was directed by Gabriel Gettman.
You never see Ringo Starr and Gary Lineker in the same room. Come on, about it think about it! Anyway, information pills I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a band called Ringo Deathstarr. Some kind of black metal/merseybeat hybrid? I can categorically state otherwise, viagra order although I would be intrigued to hear what that sounded like. The album title gives more of an insight into their trippy, lysergic sound, but the key influences here are the late 80s/early 90s Creation bands like My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain, with their squalling feedback and dreamy soundscapes.
Now, terms such as Shoegaze and Cathedrals of Sound do not exactly fill me with glee, but luckily Ringo Deathstarr give us a fresh and playful take on this kind of stuff. The brilliant opener Imagine Hearts starts with distorted 8-bit drum sounds before coming on like The Breeders’ Cannonball, with it’s dizzy, swirling guitars and bass player Alex Gehring’s dreamy, Kim Deal-like voice.
Throughout the album Gehring’s pretty, girly vocals duel with guitarist Elliot Frazier’s deeper, Ian Curtis-like croon, which provides a great counterpoint. On penultimate track Never Drive the band sound like a souped-up Joy Division.
It’s clear that these three Texans (the line-up is completed by drummer Daniel Coborn) love their vintage British indie. They’ve toured with fey 80’s jangle-merchants The Wedding Present. The breakdown in Two Girls sounds exactly like the intro to The Smiths’ Stop Me if You Think You’ve Heard This One Before. And in the song Do it Every Time, Frazier sings a lyric that may or may not say “We’re falling apart again, you took my cardigan”.
But rather than coming across as foppish miserablists, Ringo Deathstarr’s music is often powerful and joyous, and they’re at their best when playing the colour-saturated, nostalgic pop of stand out tracks So High and Kaleidoscope, which are the aural equivalent of a faded Polaroid taken on a sunny day in a park. In the 80s.
The fact that much of the lyrics are unintelligible, buried as they are under feedback and reverb, adds to the whole dreamlike quality of the record. When you do catch a phrase or word here and there, it feels like a stolen snippet of a faded memory. So, a host of 80’s indie references, dreamy girl/boy vocals and sun-faded guitar hooks – what’s not to like? Gary would approve. I mean Ringo…
Colour Trip is released on 14th February 2011 on Club AC30.
You never see Ringo Starr and Gary Lineker in the same room. Come on, patient think about it! Anyway, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a band called Ringo Deathstarr. Some kind of black metal/merseybeat hybrid? I can categorically state otherwise, although I would be intrigued to hear what that sounded like. The album title gives more of an insight into their trippy, lysergic sound, but the key influences here are the late 80s/early 90s Creation bands like My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain, with their squalling feedback and dreamy soundscapes.
Now, terms such as Shoegaze and Cathedrals of Sound do not exactly fill me with glee, but luckily Ringo Deathstarr give us a fresh and playful take on this kind of stuff. The brilliant opener Imagine Hearts starts with distorted 8-bit drum sounds before coming on like The Breeders’ Cannonball, with it’s dizzy, swirling guitars and bass player Alex Gehring’s dreamy, Kim Deal-like voice.
Throughout the album Gehring’s pretty, girly vocals duel with guitarist Elliot Frazier’s deeper, Ian Curtis-like croon, which provides a great counterpoint. On penultimate track Never Drive the band sound like a souped-up Joy Division.
It’s clear that these three Texans (the line-up is completed by drummer Daniel Coborn) love their vintage British indie. They’ve toured with fey 80’s jangle-merchants The Wedding Present. The breakdown in Two Girls sounds exactly like the intro to The Smiths’ Stop Me if You Think You’ve Heard This One Before. And in the song Do it Every Time, Frazier sings a lyric that may or may not say “We’re falling apart again, you took my cardigan”.
But rather than coming across as foppish miserablists, Ringo Deathstarr’s music is often powerful and joyous, and they’re at their best when playing the colour-saturated, nostalgic pop of stand out tracks So High and Kaleidoscope, which are the aural equivalent of a faded Polaroid taken on a sunny day in a park. In the 80s.
The fact that much of the lyrics are unintelligible, buried as they are under feedback and reverb, adds to the whole dreamlike quality of the record. When you do catch a phrase or word here and there, it feels like a stolen snippet of a faded memory. So, a host of 80’s indie references, dreamy girl/boy vocals and sun-faded guitar hooks – what’s not to like? Gary would approve. I mean Ringo…
Colour Trip is released on 14th February 2011 on Club AC30.
You never see Ringo Starr and Gary Lineker in the same room. Come on, help think about it! Anyway, information pills I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a band called Ringo Deathstarr. Some kind of black metal/merseybeat hybrid? I can categorically state otherwise, buy more about although I would be intrigued to hear what that sounded like. The album title gives more of an insight into their trippy, lysergic sound, but the key influences here are the late 80s/early 90s Creation bands like My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain, with their squalling feedback and dreamy soundscapes.
Now, terms such as Shoegaze and Cathedrals of Sound do not exactly fill me with glee, but luckily Ringo Deathstarr give us a fresh and playful take on this kind of stuff. The brilliant opener Imagine Hearts starts with distorted 8-bit drum sounds before coming on like The Breeders’ Cannonball, with it’s dizzy, swirling guitars and bass player Alex Gehring’s dreamy, Kim Deal-like voice.
Throughout the album Gehring’s pretty, girly vocals duel with guitarist Elliot Frazier’s deeper, Ian Curtis-like croon, which provides a great counterpoint. On penultimate track Never Drive the band sound like a souped-up Joy Division.
It’s clear that these three Texans (the line-up is completed by drummer Daniel Coborn) love their vintage British indie. They’ve toured with fey 80’s jangle-merchants The Wedding Present. The breakdown in Two Girls sounds exactly like the intro to The Smiths’ Stop Me if You Think You’ve Heard This One Before. And in the song Do it Every Time, Frazier sings a lyric that may or may not say “We’re falling apart again, you took my cardigan”.
But rather than coming across as foppish miserablists, Ringo Deathstarr’s music is often powerful and joyous, and they’re at their best when playing the colour-saturated, nostalgic pop of stand out tracks So High and Kaleidoscope, which are the aural equivalent of a faded Polaroid taken on a sunny day in a park. In the 80s.
The fact that much of the lyrics are unintelligible, buried as they are under feedback and reverb, adds to the whole dreamlike quality of the record. When you do catch a phrase or word here and there, it feels like a stolen snippet of a faded memory. So, a host of 80’s indie references, dreamy girl/boy vocals and sun-faded guitar hooks – what’s not to like? Gary would approve. I mean Ringo…
Colour Trip is released on 14th February 2011 on Club AC30.
A single voice sings out with the tweet of birds in the background. A little bit choir like, dosage a lot Bellowhead like. A choir song for nature. For me, advice I thought of The Lord of The Rings, and and the shire. Or Cadfael and canal residers, Rosie and Jim. With no worries about things like mortgages or commutes. Indeed, I know Cadfael dealt with corruption, but he also had an inner calm, that must have come with the peace he had with himself/job. The beginning of the album certainly makes God’s Little Eskimo reside in a nice wood-burning stove dwelling house in the early 1800s, pre industrial revolution. He would have a furlong or two of land and young Tess of The d’Urbervilles type figure as his wife.
However, after searching for God’s Little Eskimo, aka Johnny’s postcard he had sent with his CD, the music changed almost on cue. The picture on the postcard was of a vampire looking out to the mid distance, with his dark haired victim, staring as if dead, into the infinite darkness. His clawed hands wrapped around her head, it was scary – in that 70s horror movie way. And the music? Well, it was like Frankenstein’s. In the forest, miserable and alone, when he turns from ‘newborn’, to killer. It’s dramatic, humming, premeditated and controlled – yet obviously full of anguish.
Then we have another change and God’s Little Eskimo has gone travelling. To America. He still sounds a bit dark (see: If I were to bury you), yet we have some electric guitars. We’re in 70s orange, glowed USA, with a touch of 90s Doves. It’s good and the repeating guitar notes reflect the voices ‘ahhing, my love’ to splendid effect.
Moving on, Breaking Waves At Night, has an almost Spanish air to it, but still retains Johnny’s dramatic, folky voice. Perfect for a Twilight film. In contrast, In The Gloaming Woods is upbeat, happy and almost jump inducing. Maybe a happier Twilight bit, and with them in England. And of course gloaming means ‘twilight: dusk’. Limb By Limb is a mersmerising magician, a bit of a 30s black and white horror. The piano notes drawing her in… Finally Rooks is a pleasant end, ‘The rooks have returned and the Spring is coming on”. It has some lovely instrumental in the middle. The happy ending to the play and journey… although of course, rooks, like crows, do signify death according to folklore. Tess of The d’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy: ‘”Hoosh! Just be off, sir, or I’ll twist your neck! said the dairyman with some irritation, turning to the bird and driving him away. And to his wife as they went indoors: “Now to think o’ that – just to-day! I’ve not heard his crow of an afternoon all the year afore.” Ominous.
I asked Johnny a couple of questions: Why the name, I know you’re called Johnny Eskimo, but could you elaborate?
The “God’s Little Eskimo” name is actually a misheard quote from the 80s movie Heathers (with Winona Ryder / Christian Slater etc). I thought that a character in the film was referred to at their funeral as “God’s little eskimo”. I wouldn’t say the film itself was a huge influence, but for some reason the phrase stuck with me so I ended up choosing it as my name . When I watched it again more recently, I realised they actually get described as “Sherwood’s little eskimo” – not quite the same, but I much prefer my mis-remembered version.
Err, do you like horror films perchance?
I do like horror films yes – how did you guess?? I’m especially fond of older British psychological horrors, like Don’t Look Now, Seance On A Wet Afternoon and The Innocents, and I always liked scaring myself with ghost stories as a child. They definitely play some part in my inspiration, along with an interest in nature (particularly birds) and a fondness for woodlands and the sea. I suppose overall what I’m trying to convey in the songs is a sense of how much of the world around us remains uncanny and mysterious, and both how frightening and beautiful that can be (if that doesn’t sound too pretentious).
