Celluloid Bachelor #55: Post Harbor "Shirakashi"

Today's video comes to us courtesy of Seattle-based Post Harbor. Representing a track off the just released They Can't Hurt You If You Don't Believe In Them, this Keith Telfeyan-directed video is as brilliant as it is apt for the foreboding beauty of the music. For those wondering, best I can tell, Shirakashi is the Japanese word for white oak, a wood frequently used to make martial arts weapons, because it is "hard, heavy, and tough." That may not be the reference the band is making, but in the interim it adds a nice narrative dimension.

I'm gonna guess that frontman Anthony Carlucci's dad has some Genesis and Jethro Tull records in his collection, and that childhood spins left the influence in Carlucci's subconscoius, later mixing with more contemporary inspirational sources like Sigur Ros, Mogwai, and Abe Vigoda. The result is a spectral and patient lilt imbued with tension between the pastoral vibe and the occasionally harsh technological realities of the sound. This is music from the future, but one fraught and melancholy.