The Wanting Creature
Iska Dhaaf
taken from Somali, translated roughly to “let it go”
In 2011 Nathan Quiroga (Mad Rad, Buffalo Madonna) and Benjamin Verdoes (Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band) left their respective Seattle-based projects behind and began collaboration on Iska Dhaaf. The band was quickly embraced for their engaging live shows, and for creating the sound of a full band by way of two people. Together as songwriters they have steadily explored production, instrumentation, and an ever-expanding narrative voice.
Their latest album, The Wanting Creature, sees the duo emerging as producers, experimenters and genre-bending artists. The new songs show an ongoing devotion to lyrical depth and composition, and the album more fully utilizes their diverse musical backgrounds.
The Wanting Creature takes the complications of loss, depression, and instability from Nathan Quiroga’s & Benjamin Verdoes’ personal lives and uses it as fuel for these new songs. The new work revolves around the theme of desire and how it manifests in each area of our lives, even our biology.
WebsiteteamMUSIC — Iska Dhaaf
Nathan Quiroga
Benjamin Verdoes
VIDEO & ART DIRECTION
Brit Zerbo
ServicesArt Direction
Videography
Animation
Year2015
This work was created as a visual album and backdrop installation to compliment Iska Dhaaf’s live performances. The entire album or a curated mix of the videos have accompanied the band in various venues and festivals such as Bumbershoot and The Crocodile in Seattle, WA.
During my first listen of the album I was immediately inspired by stark B&W tones and the search for the overlooked details and subtleties in our every day surroundings.
Exploring abstract themes allows room for play and experimentation. Letting go of what we know and become child-like and curious. Leaning into the What if’s of it all.
As I began to play and explore a chaotic studio space emerged in the unfinished basement of my house. Imagine your 6th grade science class meets the thrift store you come across in the middle of nowhere with a dash (and that’s being kind) of chaotic teenager’s bedroom. I was often found down there most nights after putting my son to bed, bent over some strange concoction I crafted peering into my camera and a macro lens.
(The videos for Faceless Death and Chrysalis we’re a product of my mad scientist ways)
I would go through waves of feeling creatively blocked, as any artist does. It’s the creative human condition. I’d shake or work through these moments by grabbing my camera, getting into my car and allowing my gut response to chose the direction I go in, whether to turn left or right, when to stop, when to take out my camera and when to know to just sit and experience what was in front of me.
As I drove through the city and into directions that lead me into spaces that gave me a different perspective of the ever growing city I live in, Seattle, and a new perspective on the work.
(The videos for Lost and Invisible Cities we’re created from these moments)
It was on one of these drives that I decided to experiment with found footage on the internet that I would heavily manipulate.
(The videos for Say What You Want, Laura Palmer and We Are we’re the result of this exploration)
