“Don’t Come To Me”, from Nick Jaina’s Primary Perception evolved from an attempt to write a sympathetic indie-pop song from the perspective of a largely unloveable politician. The track was called “unshakeable” by Spin, and was featured on NPR’s Heavy Rotation, as well as Morning Edition. When it came time to create a video, Jaina teamed up with director Seth Whelden, from Portland-based production company, STNDRD, and choreographer, Candace Bouchard, from Oregon Ballet Theater. “I’ve been working on composing music for ballet over the last few years, and there is not a better feeling than making music that people dance to, in any style or context”, says Jaina. “I asked my friend Candace Bouchard from Oregon Ballet Theater if she would humor watching me dance at a club and offering some direction on which moves worked. I also asked her to choreograph a routine for some real ballet dancers. The idea was that I would come in with my untrained moves and disrupt this beautiful thing they created, but in the process maybe I could suggest in them some autonomy. I mostly am wary of musicians acting in music videos. We’ve all probably spent too many hours watching musicians try to act. So why not just try to dance instead? At least the results, if not professional, would perhaps be endearing in their awkwardness.”
Enjoy the video, in all of it’s awkward beauty, here.
[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M47iv0sg-6k[/youtube]
On his 2013 lp, Primary Perception, Nick Jaina took a gamble, gathering only the people in the studio who wanted to be there and figuring out what song to play only once they were all assembled. It was a completely non-scripted experiment. Often no one had heard the song prior to the session and the four to eight people in attendance would just work out an arrangement right there in the studio, sometimes with three guitarists working at the same time, sometimes with three drummers. Almost all of the instruments were recorded live and the experiment kept everyone focused on the song at the moment, not thinking of what was to come, and arranging their part while they could simultaneously hear what everyone else in the room was doing.
For a limited time, you can order Nick Jaina’s Primary Perception on deluxe LP and receive an exclusive 7″ with 2 unreleased tracks (Sea of Japan b/w Delta of of Venus). To order the record on Deluxe LP/LP/CD/FLAC/mp3, click here