With their extensive European tour kicking off today in Dijon, Tindersticks have shared another visual piece to accompany their very highly acclaimed new album ‘The Waiting Room’ (out now on City Slang).
This previously unreleased film for “How He Entrered” acts as a standalone movie and is not part of the film project that accompanied each track on the record. It was directed by Amaury Voslion and Richard Dumas (who also shot the album cover) and features the enigmatic donkey head from ‘The Waiting Room’ artwork.
“I bought the donkey head a few years ago from a great theatrical antiques shop in Strasbourg – he is apparently 100 years old” explains Tindersticks’ vocalist Stuart A. Staples. “He has become a kind of alter-ego. We had a photo session for the album arranged at Langar Hall, Nottingham, with Richard Dumas. I thought I would take the head along, see what happens… When Richard was introduced to donkey man he put down his champagne and rushed to get his camera – the next day was a lot of fun and the session spawned the great album cover and the booklet of the donkey man and his wife that goes with it. The idea of this film – a day in the life – was born that day.”
Richard Dumas comments: “When we finished the making of the donkey cover, Stuart had the feeling we had given birth to a real character and he wanted me to direct a short film showing the donkey’s daily life. That was the beginning. Amaury joined and we had the perfect team, with Stuart and Suzanne his wife, writing a sort of screenplay. We returned to the scene of the crime and shot like a film, not like a music video. The image is in no way an illustration of the lyrics. All the feelings come from the meeting of the music and the image, almost by accident.”
‘The Waiting Room’ is not only a music album but also collaborative film project with the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and La Blogotheque where every song on the album is accompanied by a short film by its own director.
Tindersticks will be touring throughout the year, including a series of special cine-concert events across the UK in April and May including the Barbican, London.
UK Tour Dates
April
29 UK London – Barbican*
30 UK Coventry – Warwick Arts Centre*
May
01 UK Liverpool – Philharmonic Hall*
02 UK Manchester – Bridgewater Hall*
03 UK Edinburgh – Usher Hall*
04 UK Gateshead – Sage*
06 UK Cambridge – Corn Exchange*
07 UK Bristol – Colston Hall*
*The Waiting Room Cine-Concert