Here's the first music video for a song from the debut album by Dunedin, New Zealand band Opposite Sex.

Opposite Sex relocated to Dunedin from their hometown of Gisborne in 2011 bringing with them their strange and wonderful songs. Their music ranges from oddly poppy carnie waltzes like "Sea Shanty" through to manic spiky post-punk lo-fi pop weirdness.

The "Sea Shanty" video was made in true Dunedin lo-fi DIY style on a zero budget with minimal props and a make-it-up-as-we-go film shoot. The challenge was - how do we make a video about living underwater when no-one wants to get wet because it's winter and it's cold? The solution was some foil building paper, a green light and some kelp from the beach.

Lucy (the "Narrator" here, and songwriter, vocalist, bassist, trumpet and piano player on the album) and Tim (the "Merman" here and songwriter, drummer and vocalist on the album) got into character brilliantly. Guitarist Fergus is still living in the North Island so he had his photographer friend Daniel Phillips take some photos of him playing his self-made Jaguar guitar while wearing an old wetsuit. These were then animated so he could be in the video.

I shot the video on an Olympus Pen-1 camera, using a semi-fisheye lens from an old video camera, attached to the Olympus lens with gaffer tape. I then created a series of fish-related animations and overlays. Some are stop-motion, others use a variety of experimental live-motion techniques. I edited it using Magix Movie Edit Pro software.

You can find out more about Opposite Sex and their album (released on LP and CD in November 2011) here: fishriderrecords.wordpress.com/opposite_sex/
You can download the song free at their bandcamp.com page too: oppositesex.bandcamp.com/

"The new wave of New Zealand pop begins here....it's remarkable, leaping from sea-sick waltzes and crunchy post-punk to ADD-pop (see the hyper opener "La Rat") **** (4/5) Uncut (UK)

"a wonderfully spontaneous album...Sitting somewhere between oddball pop and disjointed 1970s No Wave ..It's a debut album that contains all the elements you desire." 8/10 Kicking Against the Pricks

"Le tout avec une nonchalance, une liesse et une candeur bien de leur age. En Francais, une chanson s'appelle La Rat. Comme souvent dans la pop kiwi, a la fois des villes et rat des champs." Les Inrockuptibles (France)

"head-nodding, chanting strangeness -- the same eerie shimmer that bands like Black Tambourine and The Raincoats achieved..." Volume

"Where pop and anti-pop collide... wonderfully curious and weird." Cheese on Toast

"a manic, ever-progressing experiment of peculiar pop." The Corner

"the next wave of swoony Dunedin New Zealand pop." WFMU Radio, New Jersey