The Wide-Eyed Legless

reema and siren sea...

The Wide-Eyed, Legless is coming up to its first year anniversary next month, which has me thinking about what this blog is all about, and how I plan on moving forward with it. I wouldn’t call myself a very a social person when it comes to the Internet. I don’t tweet, barely post on Facebook, and I’m terrible at answering emails in a timely manner. I started this blog because I wanted a home for all the mermaidy things I tend to find in the world, but over the course of a year, it’s really the people I have met—the writers, artists, and musicians—that make it such a pleasure to be a blogger. Reema is a musician and artist based out of Dallas, Texas. She reached out to me to say hi, and I’m so glad she did. Her band, Siren Sea, are super talented. Their music rich, emotional, and as sensual as their name suggests. If you like Florence + The Machine, Sade, or Sting, you’ll probably like Siren Sea as well.Their debut EP is available on itunes now.

 

 

Images via Siren Sea

 

 

train's mermaid...

 

Train is one of those bands you’re embarrassed to know exist, even though, on occasion, you may have belted out one of their songs—Soul Sister—in the shower a hundred or so times. (Guilty.) Train is making it even harder for me to hate on them, as they just released their fifth studio album, California 37, featuring a track called Mermaid. The song is light and poppy—all things nauseatingly Train. Expect to hear this one a lot this summer.

 

Via BananaBoogies on YouTube

 

frankie rose's night swim...

 

Hmmm...mermaidy things afoot...

 

Via Stereogum

 

florence + the machine's never let me go...

Never Let Me Go is Florence + The Machine’s official third single from Ceremonials. Once again, Florence uses the ocean as muse and mirror to great effect. Never Let Me Go is a dark track with chilling lyrics of inner turmoil, love, longing, and surrender.

In the song and in the video, Florence reflects on love, impossible love that was never meant to be. Does this sound familiar? It should. The video and song could be a nod to Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. The video takes place at a hockey rink, not the ocean one would expect, but there is plenty of water to be found. There is the rink of ice, dark water seeps through the cracks of the building and down Florences face, and there’s a custodian mopping the floor with filthy water. The water in this video is thick as blood and dark as death. Thankfully, the gloom lifts for a moment as Florence skates with her lover, or at least his memory, as the boy tends to disappear, leaving Florence to skate on her own. All of this leads up to—spoiler alert—Florence dissolving into a puddle of foam.
Yes, FOAM!
Original Little Mermaid style foam!
That pretty much did it for me. She is a genius.

 

Side bar: I know Florence is one of those chameleons like Kate Blanchett or Tilda Swinton, but the dark hair kinda freaks me out. She looks like Trent Reznor or Christina Aguilera during her Fighter period or Madonna during her Frozen period. Just sayin…

**The Florence I know and love (the most)**

 

Images via Best Fan, Quote-A-Lyric, and Like 1999

 

in which I try to explain #seapunk...

“Sprouting from the digital petri dish of social networking, seapunk is a whimsical style that mashes together cartoonish aquatic themes, rave culture and a nostalgia for ’90s Internet imagery."
-Ben Detrick of The New York Times

Seapunk is a hash tag/movement/subculture I stumbled upon nearly a month ago on Twitter. Curious, I took the word to various search engines like Google and Tumblr, and most of what I found was an oil spill of strange digital graphics, trippy dolphin-cry basement music, and a handful of blue and teal-haired merboy and mergirl fans. The whole thing was strange, strange enough for me to follow Seapunk’s creator and music producer, Albert Redwine, AKA @ultrademon, on Twitter. Well, thanks to the New York Times, Seapunk has made a formal splash upon the cultural landscape. (Or perhaps a belly flop, but it’s too soon to tell.) I tried to listen to the music—emphasis on the word tried—because all that frenetic synthpop is just not for me. All in all, Seapunk and its burgeoning legion of fans is one to watch, at least for now.

Listen to Seapunk

View Seapunk Imagery Here and Here

Images via Chicago Reader , Kevin Heckart, and ASOS Marketplace

 

 

ruby summer's mermaids and poets...

Once upon a time in a Glitter-Box by the sea... That's the opening line to Ruby Summer's bio on their website. I encourage you all to read it, all of it, and become as smitten with these girls as I am. I've never heard of this country/pop duo—mostly because I don't listen to country pop. Sorry, Taylor Swift—but this video of the girls singing an acoustic version of their song, Mermaids & Poets, is too delightful to ignore. The girls of Ruby Summer are modern-day mermaids all the way. You can listen to the studio version of Mermaids & Poets here, and purchase it here.

Images via ariellevey and Ruby Summer

 

timeflies' under the sea...

 

I don't think you're ready for this, because I'm not ready for this. But like me, you'll just have to listen to it—all of it—and pick your jaw up off the floor afterwards. Yes, that is a steel drum you're hearing. Yes, that is from Disney's The Little Mermaid. Yes, this is all very guilty pleasure territory. Timeflies is a band/YouTube sensation I've never heard of, but they're cute, and they sing about things being "better down where its wetter" so why not?

Via Sunset In The Rearview, Good Music All Day, and Cineplex

 

fake problem's mermaid video...

 

 

 

Cool vid for the band Fake Problems featuring mermaids and tails by Eric Ducharme—The Mertailor. Mermaids appear at the 02:30 mark. Enjoy!

 

Via MTV

 

josh garrels' sea of music...

 

Josh Garrels is a singer songwriter from Portland, Oregon. He makes earthy and spirited music about love and faith and sailors and the human experience. He's brilliant, and he's made his beautifuls songs free to the public. (Though you can certainly help support Josh and his music via donations and such. Learn more at NoiseTrade.) Love & War & The Sea In-Between is the perfect album for modern-day mermaids.

 

Via NoiseTrade

 

florence welch loves mermaids...

 

Just thought you should know, Karl Lagerfeld, your muse is into mermaids "and stuff like that".