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The song, 'Lazy Eye' draws attention to the hem of the dress of
an old, possibly lost love:
"There's a lazy eye that looks at you and sees you the same as before"
As a defining image of the album's intent both musically and intellectually
there's probably none finer or more deliberate than this. Pure and
simple photo capture. The hem of a dress. A small incidental detail,
almost trivial, overlooked, but in that detail the power and energy
to transform and render an entire mythology. It is a significant
reference point, not least because it defines the name of the band.
Not least because it defines an entire history of dirt-track Americana.
Not least because it defines a state of mind: simultaneously concealing
and revealing, grasping and repelling. Was this the same lazy eye
of the writer that was drawn to America's past? Gary Maurer seems
to think so:
 "I
think it is the same tendency in us that makes it difficult to let
go of things in our own lives (whether it be a relationship or a
dream or whatever) that keeps us always looking backwards in all
things. We definitely have a 'lazy eye' when it comes to music."
Similarly, the album's title track, 'Idle (the rabbit song)' alludes
to the gravity of the moon turning our reluctant but captivated eyes
toward it. Were the writers aware that both the lyrics and the retrospective
style of the music shared some kind of common purpose? This window
onto the past? Writer, Dan Messé is unequivocal about the dual mythology
of the album:
"You know in all the interviews we've ever done, no one has ever
asked about the lyrics. And as far I'm concerned, the songs are almost
completely lyric driven. Certainly, the idea that the past - and
more specifically - the idea that childhood can capture you (in both
the good and bad sense of the word) is tremendously important to
these songs. I think the challenge for me has always been how do
you create a mythology that is totally personal and at the same time
is communicable to as wide an audience as possible? One of the ways
that seems to work for me is to write as simply and sparely as possible
(again, like a lullaby or a children's song)."
It's a non-linear introduction to a non-linear band that has produced
one of the finest of recent non-linear albums: 'Rabbit Songs', currently
out on Setanta Records in the UK. Let's start the whole thing again
though, by going back (naturally) to the beginning. The inevitable
first move in an inevitable retrospective.
It's Spring 1999, and songwriter Dan Messé (piano, glockenspiel,
harmonium) and producer and engineer Gary Maurer (guitar, mandolin)
begin work on an album that will, in their own words, 'interweave
their interest in traditional American music with an alternative
sensibility'. But as is the case with any such theatre of dreams
a richer cast of likeminded players and dreamers turned out to be
requisite. Populating the dream came somewhat naturally, however.
Eerily so. Gary Maurer explains:
"The original idea behind Rabbit Songs was to record an album that
we had absolute creative control over. Originally, the only criteria
for who played on the album was purely "are they available on these
dates?" and "will they be willing to work for next to nothing?" Looking
back on everything, we really were tremendously lucky to have found
these amazing musicians to work with. The whole experience seemed
very fated from the beginning."
 Dan
and Gary's mutual friend Steve Curtis (guitar, mandolin) became involved
and all that was needed was a singer. The band placed an ad in the
Village Voice and an inundation of often '-bizarre' demos then followed.
Fearing the loss of this perfect vision amidst a dust storm of mediocrity,
Messé and Maurer pulled the ad. It was a timely intervention, as
fate was about to add a totally unpredicted brushstroke of imagination
to the proceedings.
Enter stage left: Sally Ellyson. In response to the ad placed some
weeks before, Sally calls Dan cautioning him, perhaps unfairly, that
she isn't really a "singer". Understandably Dan takes the woman at
her word and makes moves to end the call. As matter of course, Dan
requests a demo. He's sceptical to say the least. What was to follow
was quite unexpected.
A scuffed, cheap homemade tape of Sally singing completely unaccompanied
arrived on the floor of Dan's apartment. The tape consisted of Sally
singing versions of traditional lullabies, 'as spare, deceptively
uncomplicated and spine-tingling' as anything he could have imagined.
The cast had been completed. Hem had found a singer. But wasn't Dan
a little nervous about taking on a self-confessed novice thus far
into the story? Didn't Sally have any experience at all? Gary takes
the call:
"Before Hem, Sally's experience as a musician began and ended with
singing with her family and friends. Of course, every now and then,
somebody would hear her amazing voice and say that she should consider
"doing something with it". Again, it just seems like fate that she
decided to act on this advice just when we were looking for a singer.
As for the tape of lullabies that she made, these were the songs
that she grew up singing--at the time, it seemed only natural for
her to use them to demonstrate her voice. "
For those not in the know, hearing Sally's voice for the first time
one is reminded of hearing Alsion Goldfrapp's vocals for the first
time on 'Felt Mountain' in that there are equal measures of warmth,
sexuality and pure unbridled ability. Big words, we know, but accurate
nonetheless. Big names like Peggy Lee and Astrud Gilberto fall naturally
to our mouths also. Were Dan and the boys conscious of these associations?
"When we first heard Sally's voice, it seemed otherworldly in that
it reminded us of every voice we had ever loved, and at the same
time was utterly unique. Like you mention, there are all traces of
folk, jazz, country and pop there, but it all just sounds so natural
in her. One of the songs from her tape is used as the opening track
on Rabbit Songs ("Lord Blow the Moon Out Please"). We also posted
an MP3 of another one of these lullabies on our website (see below).
This tape of lullabies is still something that we listen to and love.
It definitely stands up as a recording on its own. Maybe someday
it will get released. In the meantime, we'll probably keep posting
MP3s from this tape on our website."
 Having
begun as a low-budget collaboration between friends, The "Rabbit
Songs" sessions - as they were known then - took on a life of their
own. And as the shaping spirit of the bands combined imaginations
took shape, everybody realised they were involved in something special.
There was however, a problem. Not having the thriving percentages
of a label behind them, Dan began selling off most of his personal
possessions so he could afford 'the 18 piece orchestras', and the
luxury of being able to take as much time as possible over the arrangements
of the songs. It was a double-edged sword:
"The only problem with having no studio meddling in the creative
process was that we also had no studio giving us bucketfuls of money
to use for recording. The initial budget for the album was something
ridiculously tiny like $5,000. After the first weekend in the studio
(I think we recorded "Half Acre," "Idle," and "When I Was Drinking")
we all just sort of fell in love with the sound of what we were making.
Before we knew it, our initial budget was long spent, but we didn't
want to stop until we made everything perfect. I guess we just sort
of lost control of ourselves."
As both Gary and Dan are keen to point out, there are 'no samples',
'no synthesizers', 'no Pro-Tools' mixing and 'no digital studio wizardry'
in the recordings. Punctuated by mandolins, violins, glockenspiel
and deep, flowing intakes of clear fresh air 'Rabbit Songs' is an
un self-consciously 'old school album', recorded the old school way
but all the more invigorating for it:
"Our approach to recording Rabbit Songs seemed to grow out of the
material itself. We love all sorts of music. From the one mic recordings
of the Carter Family to the most sophisticated studio albums made
today. We just felt that for our songs, with the arrangements we
had in mind, the best approach would be as "old school" as possible.
The records that we're finding most exciting right now are actually
a little more "produced" sounding than Rabbit Songs; for example,
the production values on some Carpenters and Glen Campbell records."
A deeply reviving album, uncomplicated as it is uncompromising, 'Rabbit
Songs' offers an alternative revival of basics to that of The Strokes,
or The Hives or any one of the new definitive articles that get posted
regularly on the circuit. It's a New York Story with a difference.
A New York story with a New England heart and a soul defined in Dublin.
Not that it's been detrimental to their local success:
"We never actually 'released' Rabbit Songs in the U.S. (again, one
of the cons of not going the label route) so we weren't sure if the
album had even found it's way outside of a small circle of people.
It wasn't until we showed up for our first live show and saw a line
of people around the block waiting to get into the club that we realized
the album had been well received. All in all, NYC has been a great
place to grow as a live band for us. The city is surely large and
diverse enough to support both us and The Strokes."
With the human condition's reflexive imperative to return tuned more
finely, perhaps than ever before, 'Rabbit Songs' offers a positive,
pleasing aside in a long, enduring narrative. And in response to
September 2001, it proves without the faintest shadow of a doubt
that nothing is ever forgotten. The narrative folds in - but it never
collapses.
**Hem are back in the studio at the end of March to record an EP
which is likely to include some covers as well as one or two new
Hem songs.
Relevant Sites:
www.rabbitsongs.com
www.setantarecords.com
Interview and report by Alan Sargeant for Crud Magazine
2002©
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