Tin Hat: The Rain is a Handsome Animal (New Amsterdam, 8/28/12)
A few weeks ago, the ever-daring Tin Hat collective released another new adventure — a 17-song exploration of the modernist work of poet EE Cummings, with each member offering his or her own interpretation.
“A Cloud on a Leaf,” the album’s opener, is another beautiful, wandering chamber-folk piece, this time penned by clarinetist Ben Goldberg and sung by violinist Carla Kihlstedt. Kihlstedt’s vocal arrangements are integral to the album, and here she offers a melodic interpretation of Cummings’s “Speaking of Love (of… (LV)),” whose punctuation, capitalization, and spacing break the rules in the poet’s typical style.
In the song’s live-style video, the four members present a shuteye performance with a disturbing twist — especially from a distance. Stay strong for the final stare-down at the song’s conclusion.
