Video: Horse's Ha

A comfort record, sincere in intention and almost flawless in execution. James Elkington has a voice like Leonard Cohen, a morose, ramshackle, and whiskey-stained voice that whispers to you through a host of folk-themed instrumentation, and Janet Bean is the complement to his downtrodden croon. The duo comprises the core of the Horse's Ha, a Chicago chamber group whose debut record, Of the Cathmawr Yards, offers a compelling alternative to the self-absorbed guy/girl folk duo, which is all but ubiquitous on the coffeehouse circuit. Elkington's vocals...

It's really kind of shocking how many people are out there making really good, interesting music. For all we've lost in this transition to digital-firehose distribution, it has become so much easier to get turned on to new stuff. You don't have to be listening to the right radio station at the right time, happen to catch the right opening band, or be friends with that guy who's hooked into the best new music but isn't really all that much fun to hang around with. (Now you can just read my blog.) Today's Vedge is in celebration of [...]

• The Horse's Ha - The Piss Choir

There is plague, said Tom Twp. ApLlewelyn in the organ loft reached for the bass stops. The white plague drifted through the church to the music of the savage voluntary. Parson and sinner stood beneath the reflections of the Holy Family, marking in each ginger halo the hair of blood. There was to one the voice of an arming God in the echo of each chord, and, to the other, the horse's ha. - "The Horse's Ha" by Dylan Thomas Things do seem to take place on [...]

• The Horse's Ha - The Piss Choir