#His Name is Alive #experimental rock #dream pop #avant garde #alternative rock #indie rock #neo-psychedelia #art rock #Quay Brothers #animated music video #stop-motion
The ever-changing
project of multi-instrumentalist/producer Warren Defever, His Name Is
Alive have explored a veritable record store's worth of music during
their decades-spanning career. In the early 1990s, they helped define
the sound of the arty indie label 4AD with the experimental dream pop of
albums such as 1991's Home Is in Your Head and 1993's Mouth by Mouth.
As time went on, their rotating lineup mirrored their shifting sounds.
Defever and company surveyed sunny, Beach Boys-tinged pop on 1996's
Stars on ESP just as deftly as they channeled gospel and R&B on
2001's Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth. A few years later, they
fused their dream pop roots with African and Asian elements on 2007's
Xmmer. His Name Is Alive entered a particularly creative period in the
2010s, combining the ambitious and heavy sounds of prog and metal with
ethereal vocals on the concept albums Tecuciztecatl (2014) and Patterns
of Light (2016). Later in the decade and into the 2020s, Defever
revisited early ambient recordings on collections such as 2019's All the
Mirrors in the House (Early Recordings 1979-1986) and reworked them on
mixtapes including 2020's Ghost Tape EXP. From: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/his-name-is-alive-mn0000681402/biography
Starting
from the late 70s, US born/England based duo of identical twins Stephen
and Timothy Quay produced a whole number of stop-motion animations and
their unique style, in turn, influenced a whole number of other
animators. Much of their work is based on the writings of Franz Kafka
and Bruno Schulz, features little to no dialogue, and relies heavily on
musical scores/soundtracks. Their connection with musical world became
more pronounced as they directed music videos for His Name Is Alive,
Michael Penn and 16 Horsepower. Some incorrectly assume that they are
responsible for creating videos for the band Tool (undoubtedly, very
similar in style to Quay’s work, but created mostly by the band’s
guitarist Adam Jones).
The two videos that the Brothers Quay directed
for His Name Is Alive are “Can’t Go Wrong Without You” and “Are We
Still Married.” From: https://ihrtn.net/brothers-quay-his-name-is-alive/
