The Rain Is A Handsome Animal

18the rain is a handsome animalBy John SchaeferT i n H a t ’ s p o l y g l o t c h a m b e r m u s i c i s e a s y t o l i k e , h a r d t o d e s c r i b e . Ye s , y o u c a n p o i n t t othe various threads they weave together: small-ensemble jazz, vintage pop, film music,and that vast swath of traditional music we’ve taken to calling Americana.Or you canrefer to some of the touchstone figures who seem to loom large in the band’s pantheon:Erik Satie, Astor Piazzolla, Ennio Morricone, Django Reinhardt. But all the talk aboutwhat kind of band Tin Hat is misses an important point: Tin Hat is a quartet of composers.And those four composers share a love for the poetry of E.E. Cummings.It actually makes perfect sense: Cummings also drew freely on high art (classical formsand poetic devices) and the sounds of what we might call “just plain folk” (including theb l u e s ) . H e t o o k t h e s e e l e m e n t s a n d m a d e s o m e t h i n g u n i q u e f r o m t h e m . C u m m i n g s ’ p o e t r y,when seen on the page, can be a disorienting experience, with its quixotic spacing, wordbreaks, and punctuation. But it is also inherently musical, and - like Tin Hat’s music profoundly American.T h i s a l b u m , t h e r a i n i s a h a n d s o m e a n i m a l , i s t h e q u a r t e t ’ s t a k e o n a 2 0 0 - y e a r- o l dclassical music form - the song cycle. They’ve done occasional songs before; violinistCarla Kihlstedt also sings, and prior Tin Hat records have seen guest vocals by friendsl i k e W i l l i e N e l s o n a n d To m W a i t s .But this project gave the band a chance to showcaseCarla’s expressive and slightly husky/velvety voice, and to respond to the singular soundo f C u m m i n g s ’ w o r d s . T h a t ’ s n o t j u s t a m e t a p h o r, b y t h e w a y. I n t h e s o n g s o s h y s h y s h y ,the music literally does grow out of the sound of the words, as recorded by in 1958 byCummings himself. The poet’s reading has a strongly implied tune, which Carla turnedinto an explicit melody; then keyboardist Rob Reich arranged a clarinet trio to accompanyCarla’s voice. The result has the spare, elegant appeal of a classical art-song, albeitone inspired, Rob says, by Duke Ellington’s clarinet writing (as well as the playing ofclarinetist Ben Goldberg).Of course this is a Tin Hat album, so there are as many species of art-song as there arevarieties of poems. Cummings himself once said that some of his poems were meant to beheard, while others were strictly meant to be read, with their placement on the page anintegral part of the work. These latter poems pose some intriguing challenges, althoughas Carla explains, the poet himself offered some guidance:“Even in his own readings,Cummings chooses musical phrasing over visual spacing.Sometimes a parenthesisw o u l d i n f o r m m y d e l i v e r y, b u t i n m o s t c a s e s m y a l l e g i a n c e s a n d p r i o r i t i e s w e r e w i t h t h emusic and not with conveying the peculiarities of the syntax.”So while diminutive appears choppy and hard to read on the page, in guitarist MarkOrton’s setting the poem genuinely “sings” – as the subtle interplay of strings andcelesta follows the descent of “the rain the rain the rain.”On other occasions, though,

19Cummings’ unconventional orthography made for some remarkable choices. In unchanging,a poem that describes a snowflake’s gentle landing on a grave stone, the text, Carla says,“is fairly falling down the page in a line, with letters and syllables disjointed from eacho t h e r, b u t m a k i n g o n e s h a p e t o g e t h e r. T h e l a s t w o r d , g r a v e s t o n e , i s s p l i t s o t h a t t h e l a s tline simply says ‘one,’ making the first and last words of the poem the same. Althoughsometimes live I do sing ‘gravestone,’ on the record I sing ‘grav-est one’.”That decision highlights the collaborative nature of Tin Hat’s process, since the composerof unchanging was Ben Goldberg. The ostinato figure that recurs in the song was somethinghe’d already written, and he was looking for “a poem that could push against the music int h e r i g h t w a y. ”creative way in.On the album’s opening track, a cloud on a leaf, Ben found an even moreThe poem is usually known as speaking of love(of(like most Cummings’poems, it has no title and is usually referred to by its first line). But by taking a line froma p o e m t h a t B e n h i m s e l f h a d o n c e w r i t t e n , a n d d e d i c a t e d t o Yo k o O n o , a n d u s i n g t h a t a st h e t i t l e , “ t h e n , r i g h t a w a y, ” h e s a y s , “ i t ’ s m y s o n g , u s i n g h i s w o r d s . ”The album is bookended by another Ben Goldberg setting, of now(more near ourselvesthan we), which returns to the opening track’s sound-world, one haunted by the ghostsof long-gone tangos and popular jazz combos – not a dance, but a dream of a dance.Inb e t w e e n a r e f i f t e e n o t h e r, v a r i e d a p p r o a c h e s t o C u m m i n g s ’ w o r k , i n c l u d i n g t h r e e t h a tare purely instrumental.O n e i s M a r k O r t o n ’ s t i t l e t r a c k , a t r i c k y, T h e l o n i o u s M o n k - s t y l emelody driven by Mark’s urgent, slapping guitar; another is Rob Reich’s the enormousroom, which refers not to a poem but to Cummings’ early autobiographical novel.(Nots u r p r i s i n g l y, C a r l a d i d n ’ t t u r n i n a n i n s t r u m e n t a l p i e c e , b u t s h e d i d o f f e r a s t r i k i n g “ v o c a l ”solo on the violin in the enormous room – sure to be a highlight of the band’s live sets.)Mark points out that responding instrumentally to a poem is the way he would normallywork anyway; but Cummings’ poetry suggested other avenues.“His particular way ofpresenting the poems on the page only serves to widen the possibilities,” he says.poems can serve as a great lesson in deconstruction I think.”“HisMark’s own setting ofbuffalo bill, for example, mines a single phrase – where the poet, mourning the loss of thewar hero-turned-international showman, asks Death “how do you like your blueeyed boy”?“There’s something so melancholic to me about calling him a ‘blue eyed boy’,” he says.The resulting piece, with its strummed piano and plaintive brass, is one of the album’smost poignant moments. But as the brass choir grows more chromatic, simple melancholyg i v e s w a y t o a c u r i o u s , i n d e f i n a b l e m i x o f e m o t i o n s A n d t h a t , s o m e w o u l d s a y, i s p o e t r y.S o m e o f t h e “ d e c o n s t r u c t i o n s ” g o e v e n f u r t h e r.liberties with the poems:Carla claims that Ben took the most“My favorite example is open his head. In the first statement ofthe poem, Ben leaves out all but the basic elements of each image. Then when it comesback, he uses the whole thing, so that ‘open his head, you’ll find a heart’ becomes ‘openh i s h e a d , b a b y, a n d y o u ’ l l f i n d a h e a r t i n i t ( c r a c k e d ) . ’ I t w a s s u c h a g r e a t i n t u i t i o n t owithhold parts of the image at first.”

20The word play in open his head is accompanied by some Impressionist touches of clarinet,piano, and violin.Other poems, though, were more straightforward, and led in differentmusical directions. Rob Reich chose two poems, anyone lived in a pretty how town andi f u p ’s t h e w o r d , w h i c h “ r e p r e s e n t h i s m o r e t r a d i t i o n a l s t y l e . T h e y a r e a l r e a d y v e r y c l o s eto songs, and therefore obvious choices for setting to music.” anyone lived in a pretty howt o w n i s a c a t c h y f o l k s o n g , d i s t a n t k i n t o R a l p h Va u g h a n W i l l i a m s ’ O n W e n l o c k E d g e , a nearly 20th century song cycle that used the language of English folk music.Only here,the pastoral countryside is not Shropshire, England, but someplace closer to home –Carolina’s Piedmont Mountains, perhaps.Even simpler is little i – wherein Cummings captures the essence of both sunset and theyoung boy watching it.Carla Kihlstedt’s setting is built around her e-string violin (ani n s t r u m e n t s h e h a s u s e d t o m a g i c a l e f f e c t i n h e r s o n g “ H o l d M y O w n ” w i t h h e r b a n d Tw oF o o t Ya r d ) .Using four e-strings, the thinnest, highest of the usual four fiddle strings,s h e c r e a t e s t r e m u l o u s , g l i t t e r i n g t e x t u r e s t h a t i l l u m i n a t e t h e p o e m ’ s c r e p u s c u l a r, a l m o s tspectral mood.There is much more here, from the calliope waltz of yes is a pleasant country to thej a n g l y, b r o o d i n g d a r k n e s s o f h u m a n r i n d .B u t s o m e h o w, a l l o f t h e s e d i s p a r a t e p a r t scohere, both because of their shared source of inspiration and because of the musicians’shared sense of adventure and collaboration.cycle.the rain is a handsome animal is a songBut it is also something else, equally traditional, and perhaps these days, equallyold-fashioned: it is an album. Its effect is cumulative, and while you can easily pick out afew tracks for an iPod playlist, the best way to experience this fusion of poetry and musicis as a whole.*****J o h n S c h a e f e r i s t h e p r o g r a m d i r e c t o r a n d h o s t o f W N Y C ’s S o u n d c h e c k a n d N e w S o u n d s a n d h a s w r i t t e nextensively about music, including books, TV programs, and magazines.w w w. t i n h a t . o r gR e p r e s e n t a t i o n : w w w. h a n s w e n d l . c o mL a b e l : w w w. n e w a m s t e r d a m r e c o r d s . c o m“anyone lived in a pretty how town”, “if up’s the word and a world grows greener”, “now(more nearourselves than we)”, “open his head,baby”, “sweet spring is your”, “yes is a pleasant country”, “So shy shyshy(and with a”, “Buffalo Bill’s”, “dim”, “2 little whos”, “speaking of love(of”, “one// t”, “this is a rubbishof human rind”, “who are you,little i”, from COMPLETE POEMS: 1904-1962 by E. E. Cummings, edited byGeorge J. Firmage. Copyright 1923, 1925, 1926, 1931, 1935, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1946,1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, (c) 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961,1962, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982,1 9 8 3 , 1 9 8 4 , 1 9 8 5 , 1 9 8 6 , 1 9 8 7 , 1 9 8 8 , 1 9 8 9 , 1 9 9 0 , 1 9 9 1 b y t h e Tr u s t e e s f o r t h e E . E . C u m m i n g s Tr u s t .Copyright (c) 1973, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1991 by George James Firmage. Used bypermission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.

21p r o d u c e d b y T I N H ATthe words of e.e. cummings used by permission of liveright/norton.a l l p o e m s i n c l u d e d i n t h e c o m p l e t e p o e m s o f e . e . c u m m i n g s .

mark orton: dobro, tenor guitar, strummed and plucked piano, young bell, tubular bells, hurdy gurdy & bass harmonica rob reich: accordion 14. music by mark orton carla kihlstedt: violin, viola & voice mark orton: celesta rob reich: accordion with-megan orton: violin marilyn de oliveira: cello 15. diminutive dim in