Ahoy! Sleeping in the Aviary, the whimsical, Madison-bred garage-pop band that moved to Minneapolis a little while back, has crafted a high seas tale as part of its new album, Great Vacation! At first, the video looks like a parody of Titanic, but if you watch the whole thing, you'll realize it's more clever than most spoofs of James Cameron's film. Plus, the music's way more enjoyable than the Titanic theme song, Céline Dion's bathos-fest "My Heart Will Go On."
Before the music starts, the video's secondary title -- "You Can Stay But There Won't Be Pancakes" -- shoos away worries that a painfully sentimental tune is coming up. Then, you're whisked into a magical world built from construction paper and finger paint. Homemade waves, complete with whitecaps, move up and down as all sorts of strange and adorable sea creatures -- googly-eyed fish, a tiny pink octopus, a sting ray made out of duct tape -- swim by. When you reach the doomed ship, the first mate's lips are moving, soundlessly, as he tells an older gentleman that "All hope is lost."
Other passengers go berserk, shouting into their cell phones and running around the deck, but the gentleman puts on a dapper outfit, grabs a bunch of flowers and goes searching for a lady to romance. His soundtrack is a hazy slow dance, not a rock 'n' roll fight song.
As singer Elliott Kozel croons, "You're the only girl I see who looks about my age / Who hasn't sunk below the waves," our hero's eyes meet those of a hot young grandma with a kind smile. The music swells and he lip-syncs Kozel's words to woo her: "Come on and love me / No one can punish us...Come on, let's live it up." Thanks to his charm and the music, his plan works: The lovely lady grabs two huge bottles of Mahlstadté Sexino wine -- named after bassist and keyboard player Phil Mahlstadt, perhaps -- and the couple escapes to their love nest.
More music by Sleeping in the Aviary is available on its MySpace and Facebook pages, and via the Science of Sound label. Fans can also follow the band's whereabouts on its blog. Check out the live version of "Last Kiss on a Sinking Ship" when the band celebrates the release of Great Vacation! with a show at the Frequency on Saturday, November 27.
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