Premiere: Dire Wolves – “Myriads” Video

There’s clearly no end to the well of creativity that the collective known as Dire Wolves (Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band) draws from. Never mind the fact that the upcoming LP on Centripetal Force Records, I Just Wasn’t Made for These Set Times, is just the latest of several releases by the group within the last 15 or so months, but they managed to have the time and energy to self-produce their own video for the enchanting new track, “Myriads.” Give it a watch:

The band’s extremely versatile drummer/percussionist, Sheila Bosco, has an extensive background in film and video work (her resume includes running an experimental local access TV show, theater manager and archival media positions at the Guggenheim, as well as some video teaching gigs) so she naturally took the directing duties for “Myriads.” I recently had a call with Bosco, and she had said that the idea of the music video began with the image of the multi-paned window, which you see at the very beginning (belonging to Dire Wolves’ leader, Jeffrey Alexander).

“Usually, I try to have a string, even though it [the video] seems rather abstract,” she said. “I try to have a string of what I’m following. For this one, Jeffrey sent me a picture of his front window, and that made me think of—and the song also makes me think of—memories and daydreams…and I just thought of that magical time when you’re looking out the window and the sun’s coming in, and it’s really beautiful and magical and you kind of have that bittersweet excitement, and you start daydreaming. So that’s the kind of thread I followed, just going between memories and daydreaming.”

Alexander, Bosco and the rest of the band then decided to take this concept, and split up the filming responsibilities to each member, making it a truly collaborative effort.

Even though Bosco served as the director, she had given each member complete freedom to shoot whatever they wanted, with zero restrictions. From there, they returned their clips to her so she could edit, manipulate and blend them together into a single video. She pointed out to me that her approach to this project is similar to her role as drummer.

“It’s kind of this improv-y thing and as the drummer (along with Brian Lucas, the bass player), I’m holding the fort down, it’s like I’m weaving this thing and I’m kind of the solid backbone. It was really interesting collaborating that way. It was really fun.”

What’s striking is even without instructions, a motif was formed as a result of many of the members choosing to focus on scenes of nature.

Onstage, everyone in Dire Wolves seems to be deeply in tune with each other, all traveling along a single wavelength so closely that it presents a good argument for the existence of telepathy. So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that, as Bosco described, the greatness of this video came into being through this connection and these same tight improvisational abilities.

The video plays out like a hazy dream, with every segment being manipulated through a myriad (sorry) of kaleidoscopic and dazzling effects, each bleeding seamlessly into each other in a rather stream-of-consciousness-like fashion. Throughout the film, buildings form out of themselves in the sky like a mirage, as the tangled branches and leaves of a backyard container garden rise and blot out the sun like an impenetrable rain forest before fading into the river-like details of cut wood.

It’s scenes like these that make the music video a perfect visual representation of the band and their sound.

“I do try to tune in and bring out those colors…when I do a music video, it’s definitely the music that is the star. I’m trying to bring out that awe or whatever it is that I see that is the inspiring thing. For the Dire Wolves, their sound reminds me of faeries, sparkling, flying in the atmosphere, being outdoors and just the wonder…I don’t think I’d use that kind of imagery for any of the other groups that I play with or have played with,” Bosco told me.

Ethereal, dreamy and even a tad bit playful, the “Myriads” video is a deeper step into the world of the Dire Wolves, and an enticing taste of what’s to come on I Just Wasn’t Made for These Set Times. You can pre-order the album ahead of its February 9th release on blue and regular black vinyl and digital here.

-KH