#Song Cycle

[dustedmagazine]

David Longstreth — Song of the Earth (Nonesuch/New Amsterdam)

Photo by Marcus Maddox

When is something a band album and when is it a “solo album?” For Song of the Earth, David Longstreth receives top billing but is joined by his usual outfit Dirty Projectors as part of a significant group of collaborators: s t a r g a z e, André de Ridder, Phil Elverum, Steve Lacy, Patrick Shiroishi, Anastasia Coope, Tim Bernardes, Ayoni, and Portraits of Tracy. Musical and textual reference points are similarly far flung, encompassing the composers Gustav Mahler and Olivier Messiaen and journalist David Wallace-Wells’ writings.

The title of Mahler’s late work Das Lied von die Erde (“The Song of the Earth”) is a clear nod to late romanticism. Longstreth’s songs are more compact than most Mahler. “Bank On,” the longest on the album, a mini-epic six minutes, with many others clocking in around the two and three minutes mark. There are also minute-long miniatures, such as “Same River Twice” and “Appetite,”  that have time to create an ambience before quickly departing. Romanticism presents as a surface element among a number of disparate musical layers.

Dirty Projectors has long reveled in the jubilantly po-mo, abetted by recording technology to mix mercurial shifts of manner. On previous outings, the quality of Longstreth’s songwriting has sometimes been subsumed by the jump cut quality of its presentation. He doesn’t dispose of this practice on Song of the Earth, but the plethora of classical instruments at his disposal are often deployed in arrangements with a deliberate sense of solidity. “Gimme Earth” combines orchestra, rock instruments, and puckish singing. A folksy verse is contrasted by a prog chorus, interludes filled with upward string arpeggiated flourishes, and a portentous brass fanfare as its climax. The overlapped vocals on “More Mania,” which might have engendered hazier production on a Dirty Projectors release, here are given minimal seasoning, the better to blend with stargaze.

Although Song of the Earth is called a “song cycle,” is this entirely accurate? The term song cycle often implies consolidation, one composer’s group of settings by a single poet. Song of the Earth is instead a work of assemblage, juxtaposition and accrual. If adopting the designation helps Longstreth to write such compelling music, long live the “song cycle.”

Christian Carey

[sjwallin]

Had a wonderful recording session at Stagg Street Studio in Van Nuys, CA today with Claire Fedoruk (soprano), Lydia Wu (piano), and Dave Martinez (engineer)!

[lesser-known-composers]

Carl Loewe (1796-1869) - Frauenliebe, Op.60

Frances Gregory: Mezzo-Soprano & Dylan Perez: Piano

[droughtofapathy]

"Welcome to the Theatre": Diary of a Broadway Baby

Well-Behaved Women for Kamala

October 28, 2024 | Town Hall | Evening | Concert | Fundraiser | 2H

Given its primary purpose (a night of female empowerment songs to raise money for the presidential campaign), it was great. Twenty-one hot and talented women channeling historical figures in a song cycle of girlboss power anthems. What more do you want? Highlights of the night included Kate Baldwin's Janet Armstrong lament, Katie Thompson's fire and brimstone Boudicca, and the quartet of SCOTUS ladies (Klea Blackhurst, Barbara Walsh, Mary Testa, Alma Cuevos). My beloved Vicki Clark showed up in her green suit and debuted a baffling Australian accent that was not Australian at all, but she was having fun, so I'll allow it. During the final ensemble number, Mary Testa had found a comfortable position leaning up against the piano and couldn't be bothered to move to microphone for her line. Didn't matter, because this woman has a belt on her like Ethel Merman and knows how to project without breaking a sweat.

But see, the thing about song cycles is that individually, the songs are all perfectly fine, but presented consecutively, it makes for a repetitive night. There was nothing especially spectacular in terms of music and lyrics, and every single song required the performer to screlt to the high heavens. Some were more successful with this than others. Singers like Andrea Burns (Statue of Liberty) were able to really showcase their superior mixing skills to transition up into a more forgiving head/chest voice, and Kate Baldwin's slower ballad song was a blessed relief. And look, the actual subject matter is a little too revisionist, girlboss feminism to hold my interest. Plus, the composer and lyricist is Australian. So. Make of that what you will.

Verdict: A Lovely Night

A Note on Ratings

[mskermit]

Pure Heroine x TRC

I started this series in 2019 and meant to do every song on the album, but never finished. It feels weird posting these because there’s so many things I want to fix/touch up, but I know at this point I’ll never get to it. So... be free!

Below are the lyrics from the song that I associated with each drawing:

Tennis Court | Ronan

But my head's fillin' up fast with the wicked games, up in flames How can I fuck with the fun again when I'm known?

400 Lux | Bluesey

I love these roads where the houses don't change (And I like you) Where we can talk like there's something to say (And I like you) I'm glad that we stopped kissing the tar on the highway (And I like you) We move in the tree streets I'd like it if you stayed

Royals ⎮ Pynch

And we'll never be royals (Royals) It don't run in our blood That kind of luxe just ain't for us We crave a different kind of buzz

Buzzcut Season | Blue/Noah

And I'll never go home again (Place the call, feel it start) Favourite friend (And nothing's wrong when nothing's true) I live in a hologram with you

Team | Adam/Blue

So all the cups got broke Shards beneath our feet But it wasn't my fault And everyone's competing For a love they won't receive 'Cause what this palace wants is release

Glory and Gore | Blue

Delicate in every way but one (The swordplay) God knows we like archaic kinds of fun (The old ways) Chance is the only game I play with, baby We let our battles choose us

A World Alone | Pynch at St. Agnes

That slow burn wait while it gets dark Bruising the sun I feel grown up with you in your car I know it's dumb

Bravado | Gansey

'Cause I was raised up To be admired, to be noticed But when you're withdrawn, it's the closest thing To assault when all eyes are on you This will not do

[delphianactuallydoodling]

[tigerjpg]

slithered here from eden just to wait outside your workplace to drive you home and feel like a wild chimpanzee on a sugar high when you flirt with my bald ass. or however the song goes

[jameslongforjimshortforgabriel]

he was on his period here

[once-more-with-anxiety]

"what are you up to?" oh, not much, just. thinking about gay people again.

[hexadonis]

finally finished the band au comic i’ve been working on forever,,,context in tags

[sjwallin]

Exciting way to kick off 2024– I FINALLY finished the 3-movement song cycle I’ve been writing for my wonderful friend Claire Fedoruk (you can hear her lovely voice singing the solo on “Of Roses and Lilies” on my recent SHARDS album)!

I am so proud of this work—I included poems from two of Claire’s favorite poets. All three poems I used are from early 20th-century women, and they are so powerful and deep.

Claire will be debuting this work during her UK music tour starting next month!

[lesser-known-composers]

A Gorgeous, Neglected Orchestral Song Cycle

I love classical music of the late romantic era, eg Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Schoenberg's Gurrelieder. But how about this - Elegie, by the Swiss composer Othmar Schoeck. It's fabulous and was really successful at the time...Here's the final song with Andreas Schmidt singing and the Winterthur Musikkollegium Orchestra Conducted by Werner Andreas Albert.

[miyetko]

“Patroklos…I loved him, and I killed him.” -Book 18 of The Iliad

[kitteecassee]

[vellichor-lover]

Obsessed with the thought of Ronan dreaming random shit throughout his life, like the stuff Niall left lying around the Barns. Like one day Adam wakes up late and there’s a shiny new coffee machine in the kitchen. He thinks, huh. He actually made something useful for once. Gets out a mug, turns it on and all that comes out is a thick cloud of bubbles, all shaped like little cows and chainsaws and ravens. One pops on Adam’s nose. It smells like gasoline. He sighs and puts the mug away.