Shot from The Lives of Hamilton Fish. Photo by Marcela Pardo

Rachel Mason: The Lives of Hamilton Fish

Artist Rachel Mason screens a scene from her upcoming film The Lives of Hamilton Fish and performs her brand new album with her band Little Band of Sailors.

Filmed at several historical sites in upstate New York, New Jersey, and Queens, The Lives of Hamilton Fish is a rock opera and feature film based on actual events: A serial killer and a statesman, both named Hamilton Fish die on the same day. A newspaper editor publishes their obituaries on his front page and this coincidence becomes his obsession. The film's story is told entirely through music and Mason will perform a song from the movie with a guest appearance by violinist Mark Golamco.

With Dmitriy Ivolgin crafting intricate and driving melodies on the bass and the ecstatic bass clarinet of Mara Mayer, Little Band of Sailors’ songs are surreal narrative stories weaving history and science fiction fantasy with lovestruck characters. Describing themselves as "Jefferson Airplane meets Black Sabbath in another dimension", Little Band of Soldiers' live shows are a costumed spectacle of raw energy. The band recently celebrated the release of their brand new album Woman with a suitcase, featuring cover artwork by John Baldessari.

Artist, performer and songwriter Rachel Mason has toured and exhibited her art internationally, including at the Whitney Museum, Kunsthalle Zurich, the Swiss Institute New York, the Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art, the New Museum, Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, among others. Mason's most recent work, It All Started Right Here, is currently on view at the Center for Strategic Art and Agriculture, located within the Silent Barn Art Center in Brooklyn. It All Started Right Here is a video collage, installation and performance series that will change and evolve daily, resulting in a constantly expanding story.

Little Band of Sailors from Eric Leiser on Vimeo.

Rachel Mason & Little Band of Sailors Live

Clocktower curator Tim Goossens interviews artist, performer, and songwriter Rachel Mason, followed by a performance from Mason and Little Band of Sailors. The group plays a song from Mason's rock opera film The Lives of Hamilton Fish in a session recorded live at the Clocktower Gallery in October 2013. Mason talks with Goossens about the inspiration for Hamilton Fish, her character Future Clown, her performance of Rand Paul's senate filibuster, and her Ambassadors project. Little Band of Sailors' songs tell surreal narrative stories weaving history and science fiction fantasy with lovestruck characters. The Lives of Hamilton Fish follows a newspaper editor who becomes obsessed with a serial killer and a statesman, both named Hamilton Fish, who died on the same day.