Yeah yeah I know – we’ve done this band before but there is more noise out there surrounding The Middle East than we’ve seen from an Australian band in a while. Also, I’ve just been to BIG SOUND in Brisbane where it was a pleasure to see a room full of people watching their magic, particularly the internationals who had heard but not seen them,  it was awesome to see them pick their jaws up, roll their tongues back into place.

Well, Now they have a video clip.  And it’s completely fitting with the whole vibe of the music.  So while I might been a little ahead of the curve on this band a few months back I unfortunately missed the talents of this little production/animation/design house called Greedy Hen – the brainchild of Katherine Brickman and Kate Mitchell.  In the short time since I’ve seen this clip, I’ve had about half a dozen examples of their work land in my hands and then its just been basic self discovery since then.  Artists such as Jen Cloher, Washington, The Panics, Josh Pyke, Leroy Lee (stay tuned for him!!), King Curly and so on and so on.  They have quite the following so it seems.  And understandably.
 
This clip was made with water colour collaged pictures with everything being hand cut with scissors and using glue sticks and paint brushes. Right down to the infinite detail of bird beaks and tire spokes EVERYTHING WAS DRAWN AND HAND CUT!!! Think about it... 

Good...

Now you’ve thought about that, consider this: each frame of the 850 frames was then scanned, photo shopped and then strung together using Final Cut Pro.  All up it took them a few weeks to do the writing process and then a few more weeks making all of the backgrounds and hand drawing all of the multitude of trees, yet another week making all of the extra little bits like animals, people, boats buildings ….bleeding hearts and then a further week and a half of sleepless days and nights making it actually move and finalised.

So the next time you watch a clip on your computer, your phone, god damn even your television – spare a thought for the Blood that went it to it.
 
But don't forget that what really appeals to me about this clip is the song – it is such a sad and lonely story and this clip captures that gritty sadness and somehow makes it beautiful.