Thy Is a Word and Feet Need Lamps:Half-Handed Cloud

Title: Thy is a Word and Feet Need Lamps

Label: Asthmatic Kitty

Genre: chamber pop

Rating: 6.2 of 7

Half-Handed Cloud aka singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist John Ringhofer is back with another mythic tale of pop mayhem for Asthmatic Kitty. Ringhofer is a storyteller first, he paints the picture with his words and then colors them in with the music. He is greatly influenced by Brian Wilson meaning the album is splint into sporadic, minute-long pop sequences with an overlying vibe; you can never really tell when one song ends and the next begins. He also surrounds himself with a lot of instrumentation including guitars, cellos, pianos, church organs, woodwinds, brass, non-instrument sounds, and eight-person chorus and all sorts of percussion. Ringhofer also brought a lot of his friends along for the ride, including Sufjan Stevens on drums (Ringhofer plays in his touring band), mixed by Daniel Smith of the Danielson Famile and mastered by Rafter Roberts of Bunky fame. It’s a good, late-night album, subtle in sound by interesting to listen to.

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