This new visual for Australian artist’s Kirin J Callinan’s “The Teacher,” the latest single off his forthcoming sophomore LP, is an experience. The video opens with a close up of Callinan set against a black backdrop—like an Andy Warhol screen test—while he sings in his melancholy tone, We were close/ As close as skin can be. But when the beat kicks in, the viewer is transported to a washed-out version of the 1980s, as he dances in front of a light blue laser grid backdrop, looking like a mix between Boy George and B Jon. Meanwhile, his collaborator Connan Mockasin appears drenched in pink lighting, playing the sax with the smoothness of Kenny G.
With only two days to shoot because of Mockasin and Callinan’s hectic schedules, Callinan enlisted the help of his IRL friends to bring the video to life. “I wanna acknowledge those behind the scenes who were essential to the making o' the clip, especially with such limited resources, startin' with champion whistler Molly Lewis and producer extraordinaire Jason Trucco, whom together and apart found the locations, the talent, the pizza and the patience,” says Callinan in an email to The Fader. “Also, I gutta thank Effi Shoua for the space & the time, his kids & his lights, as well as Kii Arens for his camera, Hiromi Oshima for the kiss, Ethan Silverman for the kicks, Marquis & Wolfy for being up for it, The Oaks School Hollywood, Nuspace on Beverly, and the Sexy Sax Man Sergio Flores, who leant us his sexy sax,” he adds.
Catch Callinan live as he joins the David Lynch: In Dreams Revisited tour:
18 November 2015 : National Concert Hall, Dublin
19 November 2015 : Colston Hall – Bristol
21 & 22 November 2015 : Philharmonie, Paris
23 November 2015 : Cité des Congrès – Nantes
