When John Vanderslice did “Too Much Time” with the Magik*Magik Orchestra, we suggested that, actually, perhaps he wasn’t spending enough time with the so-called “official house orchestra” of his Tiny Telephone studio. Case in point: Check out this lush take on Romanian Names‘ “Forest Knolls,” which features a strumming/crooning Vanderslice backed by four extremely focused operatic vocalists, a steady booming drum, a pianist, and a flautist. (It’s like he’s becoming the Decemberists in this moment.) Like last time, it was shot by Nate Chan and Yours Truly at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Romanian Names is out via Dead Oceans. Don’t forget those “Fetal Horses”:
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Beautiful!
are there mp3s for these performances? i like them so much more than the album versions.
in my small opinion, he’s the most consistently relevant artist of the decade.
Recording this video was so much fun, the sparse arrangement of the vocals, drum, and flute made the song so powerfully sharp!