I still don’t know a great deal about Les Dunes even though they were here last October with another Video of the Week, only that they are from Haugesund on the west coast of Norway, above Stavanger and below Bergen, and are a power trio of guitar, bass and drums.
Also that they released their latest album, ‘From Etne to the Edge of Space’ late last year and that this song ‘Koen’s Teme’ is taken from it and spiced up with a video that might have been shot on Mars.
That title translates as ‘Ken’s theme’. Neither do I know who Ken is either, but Barbie doesn’t put in an appearance so no obvious connection there. (That Ken’s probably too busy invading Greenland in his military guise).
Per Steinar Lie of Les Dunes offers some help. He says, “The tune is a state of mind and the feeling we got when were hosted at Paleizen 12 at the Koen Dooms house in Brussels. We rigged up our gear and started to jam out this tune and this beautiful place. “
Koen Dooms house seems to be either a recording studio or an event space or both.
What is easier to nail is the “state of mind” quote. The three minute song is a laid back Spaghetti Western affair, more appropriate to when Clint has finished off the gunslingers with his .44 Magnum and is casually counting out how many bullets he has remaining for the next shootout while the dead are being measured up by the town’s undertaker.
In parts it also reminded me of that section of the movie ‘Contact’ where Jodie Foster’s astronaut is conned by the aliens into thinking that she is meeting her deceased father on a beach.
Visually it is quite a feast, the yellow and purple colouration and distortion suggestive of a sandstorm on Mars to which NASA has somehow been able to transport a caravanette.
It is quite surreal and that is its charm. The equivalent of spending an afternoon on an abstract painting, where your imagination is allowed to run riot.
Filmed by Per Andreas Haftorsen and Isar Stein Eyvarsson.
Find them on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lesdunesband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/les_dunes_band/
Bandcamp: https://kapitaenplatte.bandcamp.com/album/from-etne-to-the-edge-of-space (Band label)
