Rich, evocative, haunting, beautifully harsh, ‘Thirty Four‘ is a bruising affair, a tender, raw, at times simmering indie rock journey drenched in wonderfully emotive piano. It’s a song that evokes the comparisons Nick Batterham has had to Elliott Smith and Nick Drake; you can add Ken Stringfellow to the list as well.
Formerly involved with bands such as Blindside, The Earthmen and Cordrazine, Nick has teamed with photographer, videographer Thuy Vy to create a music video for ‘Thirty Four’ themed around Polaroid photos.
“I love Polaroid film and have wanted to make a clip with it for a very long time,” Nick says. “I used to scan my Polaroids as they developed, with the intention of animating them. This was labour intensive and time consuming. Thuy suggested filming them time-lapse and setting them in locations that helped to tell the story.”
“The video is an extension of a long fascination with photographing my friends,” Nick adds. “I like that a photograph captures one perspective of a moment in time, yet in Polaroid form, remains ephemeral. They take time to appear then can fade over time. A romantic relationship is a collection of shared moments and experiences, which can be well communicated by photographs. They also capture the fractures within a relationship before either person can see it for themselves. My dear friends Nick and Tiara were amazing to work with. So honest and generous, as well as being ridiculously good looking! I can’t thank them enough for their presence and patience.”
‘Thirty Four’ features on Nick’s new solo album ‘Lovebirds’ that he will launch at Melbourne Recital Centre on June 25th. Go here for more information on the album launch.
“Nick is a wonderful musician, composer, sound designer and lyricist,” Thuy Vy says. “The more I listened to his music and read his lyrics I found that our works share a similar sensibility. We’re both concerned with ideas of love, melancholy, preservation of memory, vulnerability and fragility of feelings. This video is a distillation of our shared interest in photography as a personal way to hold onto time. And our love of Polaroids as a medium, in particular a Polaroid as an only copy of a moment and the preciousness that it holds.”
Pre-order Nick Batterham’s beautiful new album Lovebirds on limited edition red vinyl, black vinyl, CD or digital here.
