VIDEO PREMIERE | Wet Fruit, "Water"
Introducing Portland’s latest and greatest — Wet Fruit; press photo courtesy of Todd Walberg.
Returning to the mystic North American corner of all things DIY; we present the latest Portland pop ensemble of wonder Wet Fruit. Comprised of members from local acts Bitch’n, Máscaras, Sávila, Sun Angle, Tender Age and much more — the supergroup quartet announces their debut self-titled for the venerable Seattle-based imprint Halfshell Records with a first look and listen at the visual for the reflective and mind wandering "Water". Filmed on home-video recorders by the band under the direction of the group’s own Charlie Salas-Humara; the meditative and spellbinding arrangement is accompanied by the park-bound exploits of Rebecca Rasmussen, Elaina Tardif, Papi Fimbres, Charlie and company. Beguiling poetics, elemental alliterations, melding memories of yore with urgency of the present and enchanted dalliances in the great outdoors are all combined together for an experience that feels like entering into the elusive ether of an alternate zone.
The feeling of reflective northwest passages made through twisting bucolic trails abound in the video for "Water". The fuzzy VHS-captured visuals match the mood of the song's holistic aesthetic that is executed like found footage documenting the exploits of entertaining some sort of otherworldly phenomenon. From barns, brier, bushes, fields, foliage, streams, lakes to the familiar practice spaces and comforts of home — we witness Wet Fruit armed with tridents, wine glasses, coffee mugs, cigarettes and La Croix as they explore the intersection of where the natural and supernatural meet. The classic analogue medium contributes to the strange theosophical style of the song's unorthodox composition and delivery, compounding the wayward breeze of the woodwinds, Rebecca and Elaina's haunting harmonic recitations of the song's namesake and the mysterious mellow rhythm chord structures into a fully entrancing experience. Wet Fruit's "Water" is an organic work of art that invites the audience on their serene avant-garde stream of conscious journey into the perplexing woods and wildernesses of the PNW that is both surreal, strange and wonderful.
Chilling with Wet Fruit; press photo courtesy of Todd Walberg.
The band shared some words on the making of the visual for “Water”:
We got together over the course of two days to capture new sonic landscapes and brought old camcorders to capture the process. The result is shaky grainy nostalgia reminiscent of Robert Wyatt meets Sonic Youth.
Wet Fruit’s self-titled will be available November 26 via Halfshell Records.
The new wonders of Wet Fruit; press photo courtesy of Todd Walberg.