Institut Polaire profile picture

Institut Polaire

OK. Super duper. We're making records....

About Me


Formed as a three piece in 2004 by an American ex-pat, an English born doctor and a country boy moved to the big city, Perth based band Institut Polaire were destined from the start to have a dizzying array of influences. With a palette of sounds ranging from country tinged psychedelia to 60's soundtracks, bubblegum pop to kraut-rock, Institut Polaire are musically schizophrenic; taking little pieces of each genre to create a special blend of their own. Pulling off these ambitious layered wall-of-sound aspirations does take a lot of sonic firepower. As a result, Institut Polaire has grown from humble three piece roots into a full-blown collective who currently number between 7 and 9 members toting everything from vintage Wurlitzer pianos to violins, banjos, trumpets, MacBooks and glockenspiels.
The collective have already shared the stage with acclaimed artists such as Camera Obscura, The Clientele, Architecture in Helsinki, Jens Lekman, Lou Barlow of Dinosaur Jr., The Cannanes, Love of Diagrams, New Buffalo, Gerling, Bob Evans, Starky, The Panics and The Lucksmiths.
While Institut Polaire may have been short on releases thus far, they haven’t been short on accolades- taking out the prestigious WAM Song of the Year Prize in 2006 for the single “City Walls & Empires”, and receiving generous airplay nationwide.
2007 got off to a flying start when the band were discovered by Triple J, leading to a well received appearance at the annual Big Day Out Festival. This was quickly followed by becoming the first Australian act signed to boutique Sydney label Popfrenzy Records (Australian home of Of Montreal, The Gossip etc) and national tours with Camera Obscura (Scotland) and The Clientele (England).
Institut Polaire released their debut EP "The Fauna And The Flora" on October 2, 2007 to rave national reviews including Single of the Week honours from both Drum Media and Rave street press. They have been added to rotation for (a rare) two tracks on Triple J and garnered wide airplay on community stations around the country. The release was accompanied by an ambitious video for “City Walls & Empires” filmed at Carriageworks Arts Complex in Sydney.
2007 finished as good as it began with the band nominated for the prestigious J Award (Unearthed New Artist Category) and four 2008 WAMI Awards (Most Popular EP, Most Popular Video, Best Indie Pop Act and Best Drummer).
Following an appearance at Southbound Festival in the new year Institut Polaire relocated to Melbourne where they are currently writing/recording their highly anticipated debut LP. Keep an eye out for a new single in March/April and a full national tour in May!

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 12/10/2005
Band Members: Current members are...
Ben Blakeney - guitar, vocals
Elliott Brannen - trumpet, keys, vocals
Catherine Colvin - violin, vocals
Erik Hecht - vocals, guitar, banjo, keys
Dr. David Thirkettle-Watts - bass
Samantha Wass - acoustic guitar, keys, vocals
Ash Blakeney - drums, percussion
Rebecca May - keys
Influences: ELO, Falco, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Walker Brothers, Scott Walker, Jacques Brel, Stereolab, Velvet Underground, GusGus, The Smiths, Joy Division, Can, Neu!, Divine Comedy, Gal Costa, Tom Ze, Eggstone, Gilberto Gil, Esquivel, Arthur Lyman, Les Baxter, Scarlett Johansson, Charlize Theron, Beach Boys (the real deal not that Mike Love/Jon Stamos "Kokomo" bullshit!), Super Furry Animals, Teenage Fanclub, Os Mutantes, 10CC, High Llamas, Decemberists, Kinks, ABBA, Bjork, Spiritualized, Lee Hazlewood, Serge Gainsbourg, the Elvises Presley and Costello etc.
Record Label: Popfrenzy
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Album Recording w/ Craig Pilkington

We are very excited to let you know that we will be recording our debut album throughout October and November with Craig Pilkington of Audrey Studios at the helm.Craig has produced several releases by...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Mon, 20 Oct 2008 05:23:00 PST

Institut Polaire Storm the Top 40!! (kinda)

Thanks to everyone who's been coming to the shows so far. West coast was a blast and can't wait to get to the east coast in a couple of weeks.In other news, in the "how the hell did this happen?" de...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Tue, 06 May 2008 05:29:00 PST

TRIPLE JS HOME AND HOSED PRESENTS - CUTHBERT & THE NIGHT WALKERS & INSTITUT POLAIRE - MAY 08

TRIPLE J’S HOME AND HOSED PRESENTSCUTHBERT & THE NIGHT WALKERS AND INSTITUT POLAIREAUSTRALIAN TOUR MAY 2008Ending 2007 at a crackling pace, Sydney’s Cuthbert and the Night Walkers and Pert...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 03:58:00 PST

Feature Article On Wireless Bollinger!

Mr. Steve Scully has written a feature article on IP for the great music website Wireless Bollinger. You can check and lots of other great stuff out at THIS LINK!...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 06:03:00 PST

Drum Media (Single of the Week!) Review

Institut PolaireThe Fauna and the Flora EP(Popfrenzy)After growing from a three piece to an eight piece, winning WAM Song of the Year, being Unearthed by JJJ, scoring a deal with boutique Sydney label...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:26:00 PST

Wireless Bollinger (EP of the Month!) Review

Institut Polaire - The Fauna and the Flora (Pop Frenzy)Institut Polaire's is the EP of the month by a long shot. The Fauna and the Flora is terrifically vast piece. Driven by the clean vocal talent of...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:25:00 PST

Rave Magazine (Single of the Week!) Review

SINGLE OF THE WEEKINSTITUT POLAIRE  The Fauna & The Flora EP(Popfrenzy)Not to judge a CD by its cover might be an adage stuck in the primitive pre-download and burn days, but to those music fans who ...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 10:22:00 PST

Thank You!

IP would like to say a huge thanks to all who came to the launch last weekend and all who have bought the EP. It would be an understatement to say we have been slightly overwhelmed with the response ...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Sun, 07 Oct 2007 02:31:00 PST

Get Well Soon Russ. And Thanks A Million Marty!

Our drummer Russ had an absolutely terrible last couple of weeks due to severe illness. Looks like the worst has past and we wish him a very speedy recovery. We would also like to extend a sincere T...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:32:00 PST

TRIPLE J LIVE SET ENCORE BROADCAST!!

This Sunday (29/4/07) Triple J will be airing a special extended encore broadcast of the live set we did for them a couple months back. You can catch it from 5:30 on Richard Kingsmill's program immed...
Posted by Institut Polaire on Sat, 28 Apr 2007 07:07:00 PST