Institut Polaire formed as a three piece in 2004 by an American ex-pat (Erik Hecht), an English born scientist (David Thirkettle-Watts) and a country boy moved to the big city (Ash Blakeney; who left the band in 2005, handing over his role to cousin Ben).
Institut Polaire has grown from three piece roots into a full-blown collective who currently number between seven and nine members toting everything from vintage Wurlitzer pianos to violins, banjos, trumpets, MacBooks, and glockenspiels.
In recent times, the collective have shared the stage with acclaimed artists and bands including Camera Obscura, The Clientele, Architecture in Helsinki, Jens Lekman, Lou Barlow, Gerling, New Buffalo, Starky, The Panics, and The Lucksmiths.
Institut Polaire's debut 7-inch single "City Walls and Empires" (released through Love Is My Velocity Records) won them the Western Australian Music Industry's 'Song of the Year' Award for 2006[1] and has since received national airplay.
[6] In early 2008, the band relocated to Melbourne for the foreseeable future and quickly undertook a national tour with Sydney's Cuthbert & The Night Walkers (presented by Triple J's 'Home and Hosed') in May.
Craig's previous resume included several releases for The Lucksmiths, a co-producing credit on The Blackeyed Susans ARIA-nominated 'Shangri-La' and engineering 2008's ARIA-winning 'Gurrumul' by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.
Erik Hecht co-wrote and sang on the track with Dirty South and Those Usual Suspects called 'Walking Alone', which went on to worldwide headline DJ support by the likes of Tiesto and Axwell, featured in the 20th Century Fox movie 'Chronicle' (2012), and appeared on the deluxe edition of the final Swedish House Mafia album 'Until Now' (2012).