"The recorded version of the song is not necessarily the definitive version of the song." - Ray Raposa of Castanets
When conceptualizing a video for Castanets' recent record In The Vines, it did not take long for Castanets frontman Ray Raposa and label project manager Michael Kaufmann to abandon the notion of designing a YouTube friendly vignette. If Raposa's above statement is true, why then create a video that seemed to suggest otherwise, one that would become the visually determinate version? Instead, Raposa and Kaufmann decided to create a document that subverted the authority of the original by soliciting new takes and approaches. They also wanted to create a document that would serve as a snapshot of a particular moment in time surrounding Raposa and Castanets. They turned to Brooklyn-based photographer and occasional Castanets member Mia Ferm.
The result is a meditative reflection on the mesmerizing motion of water, the beauty of natural light, and the spontaneity of friends. Responding to the thickness of the songs on In The Vines, here the songs are stripped bare and presented by new voices that further reveal the lyrical beauty of Raposa's songwriting. The document is also a portrait of the community of friends and acquaintances that reside in close proximity to Raposa and the music of Castanets. This community inhabits a Brooklyn that is portrayed here in all its strange, gritty, rural paradox. It is equal parts home movie (ala Jonas Mekas), Downtown 81, Pull My Daisy, and audio-visual collage.
1. Rain Will Come: Dave Longstreth 2. Remix on Post Apocalyptic Music: G. Lucas Crane 3. This is the Early Game: Golden Ghost & Silver Spokes 4. Jump Cuts and Hip Hop: John Chavez 5. Strong Animal: Sayard Egan and Angel Deradoorian 6. Dirty Jokes & Billiards: Jesse Ainslie 7. Sway: Marla Hansen 8. Lost Lyrics recited by Matt Lorenz in Farsi with Polish subtitles: Matt Lorenz 9. Three Months Paid: Jesse Ainslie 10. Interlude at Miller's Pond I 11. Night is When You Can Not See: Tucker Dulin and Ben Piekut 12. Interlude at Miller's Pond II 13. Prelude to City of Refuge: Ray and G. Lucas Crane 14. On Genre/Spaces: Ben Piekut 15. And the Swimming: Phosphorescent
