What’s The Remedy?
The latest musical offering from current Illinoisemaker John Ringhofer a.k.a. Half-handed Cloud is a 7″ EP titled What’s The Remedy? Set for an October 25 release on Asthmatic Kitty, What’s The Remedy? features Sufjan Stevens on drums and other instruments. Sufjan also handled production duties for this project.
In an early 2005 interview John gave Indiepop the background on the creation of “Remedy”:
“What’s the Remedy?” is made of piano songs written in Berkeley late in the Summer of 2002 when I first moved to California. It’s an e.p. of five songs, and I recorded the demo versions on my friend Joel’s 4-track cassette. This was just before the “Loved” album was released. Sufjan Stevens had once said something about wanting to record Half-handed Cloud, so I sent him the demos for “Remedy” and “Bible Verses With a Bad Name”, and he chose “Remedy” to record after we toured together in early December 2002. We did most of it in a single day at New Jerusalem Recreation Room, and then he recorded drums on another day in January 2003. He spent another evening finishing overdubs in October of 2004. We’re pretty pleased with how everything turned-out. I got to create the initial arrangements, but Sufjan embellished them with his own ideas. The songs are an attempt to answer the question, “In light of the Gospel, what should be our attitude towards Law?”
“What’s The Remedy?” is now available online directly from Asthmatic Kitty as well as at Sufjan’s concerts and Half-handed Cloud shows.
Press release and information from Asthmatic Kitty:
Half-handed Cloud - What’s the Remedy?
After visiting California’s Bay Area several times over many years, Half-handed Cloud’s John Ringhofer moved to Berkeley (leaving Knoxville, TN) in the summer of 2002. He wrote the five songs that would become the What’s the Remedy? e.p. on a piano there in August of that same year, before We Haven’t Just Been Told, We Have Been Loved (the second album) was released in October.
After sending a demo of the songs to Sufjan Stevens in Brooklyn, the two of them decided to record all five together at the end of a brief New England tour they shared in early December 2002. All the basic tracks were laid down in one day at Daniel Smith’s New Jerusalem Recreation Room while Daniel was out of the country (with his permission and blessing).
In addition to lots of piano, they both sing, play organ (including its foot pedal bass notes), and occasional acoustic guitar. Sufjan recorded the drums on another day. He created and tracked some additional embellishments (toy piano, banjo, recorder flute, tambourine) a few months after that, and sent the results to John. John was pleased — he trusts Sufjan’s ears pretty well!
The artwork was worked-out and transferred to a pillowcase by John. The cover, based on a photo by Michael Kaufmann, shows a bloody chin, the result of a slippery front porch accident in Berkeley during a visit from Liz Janes and Castanets within a few days of John’s return from recording. Ouch! The artwork was fit into its template by Sufjan.
Asthmatic Kitty Records is making the results of this collaboration available in the form of Half-handed Cloud’s What’s the Remedy? five-song 7″ record. 45 rpm!
Tracklist:
- We’re Not Getting Well
- Took Your Tablets
- I Got A Letter
- Ten Commandment Tombstone
- Here’s A List
October 23rd, 2005 admin
Entry Filed under: Guest Appearances, Press Releases, Related Artists