Search - Freelance Whales :: Weathervanes

New York five piece Freelance Whales are collectors of unique instruments, ghost stories and dreams. Freelance Whales' debut album "Weathervanes" is a whimsical and precious indie pop gem. They work on an improvised stage - from the subways of The Big Apple to an abandoned geriatric ward in Staten Island, to loft parties and basement jams. Freelance Whales met through an ad on online messageboard Craig's List posted by their frontman Judah Dadone simply saying "Would anyone like to interact with this sound, or be a part of it?" accompanied by a single track. Fifty interviews and three months of schlepping across New York later, the band of multi-instrumentalists had formed with Kevin Read, Doris Cellar, Jake Hyman and Chuck Criss completing the circle. "Weathervanes" does not move with the winds, creating their own compass that is slightly off the map. Based on the recurring dream frontman Judah Dadone had where he walked through his childhood home, discovering new rooms he never knew existed. It came about from "this feeling of elation of finding new spaces in a space you're already familiar with", the album shows this childlike innocence, joy, fun and surprising depth. The record works to tell a simple, pre-adolescent love story: a young male falls in love with the spectral young femme who haunts his childhood home. He chases her in his dreams but finds her to be mostly elusive. He imagines her alive, and wonders if someday he'll take on her responsibilities of ghosting, or if maybe he'll join her, elsewhere. From the ethereal, lilting sing-a-long of 'Hannah' to the hook-laden, group vocal of 'Generator ^2nd Floor', to the fragile, gentle, acoustic lyrical tale of 'Broken Horse', Freelance Whales enthral with their sensitive story-book creations. Using out of the ordinary instruments such as the "Frankenstein organ" that Doris Cellar created with bamboo and parts harvested from older organs, glockenspiel, watering cans, bells, banjo, keys, acoustic guitar and marching band bass drum, Freelance Whales break the indie pop mould.