Mark Vanilau - Giant of the Sea

Sometimes songs come along and bowl one over with an alchemy that is a little challenging to define in terms of its constituent parts. Mark Vanilau's "Giant of the Sea" is one of those, and for me, this is the best single of the year so far. I know it was around on The Audience (www.theaudience.co.nz) last year, and managed to win NZonAir (website below) "Wildcard" video funding, but I have to admit I have limited time with which to run this blog, and had not spotted the gem. Shame! I picked the video up off Twitter several days ago after seeing a tweet that indicated the song was starting to rate highly on the "Hypnofeed" section of Coldplay's website. The song was produced and mixed by mega-talent Warren Maxwell (Trinity Roots, Little Bushman), with members of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra providing the strings, beautifully arranged by Ryan Youens. Mark is best-known as a session musician, having played with local notables such as Trinity Roots, Dave Dobbyn, Hollie Smith and Ladi6. I have just found out he plays in a trio with Warren Maxwell and Louis Baker...what I would call a low-profile New Zealand "supergroup" (that is not hyperbole). I believe this single has the potential to be a international hit, although realistically, without some push, it might well get lost. But maybe it might just catch? The video was directed by Karl Lear of Red Yeti Films with cinematography by Donny Duncan ("Mr Pip", "Emperor" w/ Tommy Lee Jones, and "Xena"). Art direction was by Tane Jarrett who has worked on movies "King Kong", "The Narnia Chronicles" and "The World's Fastest Indian". Nice work. You can buy the song at the iTunes link below.

https://itunes.apple.com/nz/artist/mark-vanilau/id589321651

The NZorAir link is below:
http://www.nzonair.govt.nz