Five years after their debut album ‘Random Numbers’ Songs From A Random House, the New York-based ukelele songsters, return with a new selection of mysterious avant-pop songs. Lead singer/songwriter Steven Swartz, whose PhD in music allowed him to study with Morton Feldman, developed a unique blend of psychedelic folk-jazz groove music where the often neglected ukelele has the spotlight. The band featured in a US documentary ‘Rock That Uke’ by William Preston Robertson and Sean Anderson narrated by Holly Hunter focussing on the growing number of alternative musicians who incorporate the uke in their work, attracted by the ‘underdog’ qualities of the instrument. Swartz’s intricate lyrics are a bittersweet exploration of the mundane. Often humorous, but always set in a hazy magic-realist universe. The album features an unlikely rendition of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, which has to be heard to be believed…
Credits:
Steven Swartz: voice, baritone ukelele, Magnus chord organ – Alan Drogin: soprano ukelele, Magnus chord organ, lap steel guitar – Gregor Kitzis: viola – Jason DiMatteo: upright bass – John Bollinger: drums & percussion
TRACK LIST:
1. CALCULATING FLOWER I (3:10)
2. NO PLACE I’VE EVER BEEN (4:28)
3. STRETCH (6:12)
4. TASTE OF CROW (3:23)
5. LEVITATE (5:42)
6. END OF THE YEAR (2:33)
7. ONE STEP DOWN (4:43)
8. SOMETIMES YOU KNOW (4:13)
9. SLEEP IS A SACRAMENT (4:37)
10. STRETCH (LIGHT RETURN) (1:19)
11. I FEEL LOVE (6:01)
Also available as downloads:
