The Tain by The Decemberists

[Comyn]

Fantastic animated version of the classic Ulster tale to the music of the Decemberists.

https://youtu.be/_rVMgv0jj5w

220px-Tain.jpg (14.69 KiB) Viewed 7749 times

[Guthrum]

This is awesome. The animator must have done a bit of research.

[Comyn]

The Wikipedia article has the following information about it. It's almost 15 years old already! I find the music and lyrics do indeed suit the piece, and since you can usually not understand everything Colin Meloy is singing with his odd speech impediment (or is it an affectation?) it works either way ;)

The Tain is an EP by The Decemberists released in 2004 by Acuarela Discos and in 2005 by Kill Rock Stars. The single 18-plus minute track, in five parts, is named after the Irish mythological epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, often simply called The Táin. With production help from Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie, the Decemberists recorded the EP over the course of four days in Walla's studio in Seattle, Washington. The album cover was designed by the Portland artist Carson Ellis, who is Colin Meloy's wife and has created artwork for each of the group's albums.

The lyrics to the Decemberists' song do not directly reference the characters or plot of the Irish epic. Part III contains the only explicit reference in the lyric, "the mirror's soft silver tain reflects our last and birthing hour". It is possible that the song was not originally intended to have any connection to the epic itself. The accompanying video by Andy Smetanka does tell the traditional Tain story with silhouettes interspersed by minimal captions, in the manner of a silent movie, but the action in the video proceeds completely independent of the music.[1] As well, a music video for the track was made entirely from silhouette crepe paper stop motion animation, and is available on The Decemberists: A Practical Handbook DVD and the Pitchfork Media music website.

The artist, Andy Smetanka, is an interesting cat and was not a graphic artist by trade. In 2007 he was hoping to become a college professor in writing.

[Fiachra]

You reminded me to to listen to the Tain EP again. It's good, but my favorite Decemberists album is The King is Dead.
I will get to the video.