I'm thrilled to premiere a new video today from a band I really love! Seablite are from San Francisco and routinely serve up jangle-pop, dream-pop, and every other kind of good pop you want to throw a label at. Whatever you call it, the music of Seablite conjures up the same vibe as that of the bands who meant so much to some of us for so long. And there are enough unique touches here as to remind a listener just how resilient these forms are, especially when played by musicians with this kind of enthusiasm.
Not that long ago, I wrote about the "Breadcrumbs" / "Ink Bleeds" single from Seablite, and now today's the day to see the delightful, intricately-clever video for "Ink Bleeds", the flip of the Emotional Response release. This one, a superb number in the spirit of Split-era Lush, is illustrated by a video from director Jenn Heard and assistant director Kevin Wood. The band and director offer background below.
Seablite: "This video was a collaborative escapist collage of thoughts inspired by objects and feelings we've experienced and acquired through the last couple of years. The main building is a vintage Soviet Lego house, a gift to Galine by her best friend Yvonne, very similar to the building Galine actually grew up in. We wanted to create a world inside of this house that can be relatable to all of us , drawing inspiration from David Lynch's Eraserhead, with black-and-white post-apocalyptic visuals, yet with magical rooms so carefully crafted by amazing Jenn Heard."Jenn Heard: "Two months ago, seablite came to me with the idea of filming them in a miniature house, inspired by Galine's beloved toy Soviet bloc building from Young Architects 1982. Fortunately, we found Itty Bitty Mini Mart selling the coolest miniatures on Etsy. I reached out to Margie and Brian to ask if we might collaborate and they didn't hesitate. As they're also located in Chicago, they sent me home with everything you see in the video and more. They even custom made seablite merch!
While seablite filmed themselves against a white backdrop in Galine's apartment in San Francisco, I designed our two-room flat in 1:12 scale in Chicago. We did our best to anticipate what the band needed to do for the camera so we could later place them inside our mini living room and kitchen. Thankfully, seablite trust me. They had to do some silly stunts for the camera and I think it really paid off.
This is our fourth music video together, second collaboration long distance. Collaborating with this group is a director's dream come true. And we're pretty scrappy - can you believe it was all shot on iPhone 11? If you like the miniatures featured in our video, check out https://www.ittybittyminimart.com/"
"Breadcrumbs" / "Ink Bleeds" is out now via Emotional Response.
More on Seablite via the official site.