about two years ago, with an “oh yeah just watch me” attitude, i listened to mewithoutYou‘s album brother, sister. it’s raw and honest, bitter and beautiful, dark and blinding, sharp and sweet. it was “not quite my type of thing,” so i promptly fell in love with it.
it tells a story, a sulking to shining story, about man, despair, love and God. but … it’s not always obvious what is what or who is who. it employs a lot of biblical imagery, but not in the ways we’ve heard ten thousand times before. it talks about modern life in terms from 1940s photo albums.
it’s picture-rich. when i listen to it some of the pieces play out in my mind’s eye like a movie, or as if i’m really there watching the story of the song.
so i wanted to illustrate it.
i’m not very good at drawing — my mind-hand coordination is under-developed in that area — so my method of illustrating is photography.
it’s thirteen songs long, so, to trace the story lines, themes and imagery through the whole album, i decided to make image collections on pinterest to remind me of ideas or inspire new things i hadn’t thought of. i’ve finished four songs just to that level, with no written lyrical analysis so far. i’m beginning to realize how involved this “art photography” business is. part literature analysis, part stagecraft, part acting, part directing … all funneled into moments frozen by the camera eye.
oh boy.
but, if i’m able to pull it together and pull it off, i think it’ll be a lot of fun. especially if my idea of what to do with the finished photographs comes together.
in the meantime, i’m on the lookout for participants. if you’re interested, let me know. i might contact you even if you don’t contact me.
You KNOW I’m interested! ^_^