Hem - Home Again, Home Again (EP)
ARTIST.....: Hem
TITLE......: Home Again, Home Again (EP)
LABEL......: Waveland/Nettwerk
URL........: www.hemmusic.com
RIP DATE...: Oct-26-2007
STORE DATE.: Aug-08-2007
GENRE......: Folk-Rock
QUALITY....: VBR / 44.1Hz / Joint-Stereo
SIZE.......: 24,2 MB
Track Listing:
01 - The Part Where You Let Go 03:44
02 - Half Asleep 02:19
03 - While My Hand Was Letting Go 03:36
04 - The Meeting Place 01:12
05 - Home Again 04:18
06 - Half Acre 03:22
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18:31 min
Release Notes:
www.myspace.com/hem
www.nettwerk.com
www.allabouthem.com
The seven-year old quartet - vocalist Sally Ellyson, pianist Dan
Messe, guitarists Gary Maurer and Steve Curtis - hails from
Brooklyn, New York. However, they conjure up such vivid, often
pastoral settings and restless, lonesome characters in their
songs, you may suspect that they long ago discovered some
fantastic, secret portal in an old borough building that instantly
transports them from their urban environs to a wide open prairie
far, far away. Although Messe, Maurer and Curtis individually and
jointly contribute material to Hem's repertoire, their vision is
remarkably unified. As Ellyson, who channels all their imagery,
explains, "Each song is its own world. They really show an amazing
ability, that I don't think everyone has, to create a world in
song after song that you can become so connected to, that brings
you such deep feelings -- pain, joy, sorrow."
Messe and Maurer - working musicians, composers and producers --
had long wanted, in Messe's words, "to do this dream project that
combined all of our favorite influences, from the Carter Family to
Aaron Copland to the Rolling Stones." They enlisted Messe's
college buddy Curtis to join this quixotic adventure and the trio,
likeminded songwriters but not lead singers, decided to place an
ad in the Village Voice for vocalists to help them realize their
vision. That seemed to yield nothing. Then, well after the listing
had expired, Messe got a call from Ellyson, who was a television
producer at the time. She'd never sung professionally, but did
have a cassette of lullabies she'd recorded for a friend's child.
As Messe, skeptical of her talents until he put on her tape, told
the Boston Globe, "I couldn't believe that voice existed... We all
sort of feel like it was The Wizard of Oz. Like the exact right
person showed up at the exact right time to get us home." Snippets
from that tape are included at the beginning of Rabbit Songs and
at the end of 2004's Eveningland.
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These tunes are so immediately involving, sometimes so soothingly
familiar, that you'll insist you know them - and love them -
already. Hem exists very much in the here and now, but always
manages to evoke the timeless. (www.cdbaby.com)