Half-Handed Cloud

Item: Thy Is A Word And Feet Need Lamps
Author: Phil Nichols

Thy Is A Word And Feet Need Lamps

(2005)

Reviewed by Phil Nichols

Discogs Bandcamp Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify

Label Asthmatic Kitty RecordsDecapolisFebruary 2005

experimental folk indie pop

I think I am in love.

Love in the strictly platonic sense, but love all the same.

John Ringhofer, the mastermind behind the moniker of Half-Handed Cloud, has created a delightfully innovative, intriguing, and thought-provoking album that clocks in at just under a half an hour.

Thy Is A Word And Feet Need Lamps is Ringhofer's third full length album. Though he is an accomplished painter and former teacher in the South Pacific, Ringhofer has obviously dedicated a fair amount of time searching for new instruments to learn and add to his sound and also perfecting his incredible gift for writing strong, fresh, and inventive melodies. This album features guitars, cellos, pianos, church organs, woodwinds, brass, non-instrument sounds, an eight-person choir, and was recorded almost entirely in a church sanctuary.

Lyrically, the songs are primarily narrative tales that revisit Biblical (generally Old Testament) stories. And while most songwriters would retell the well-known stories, Ringhofer hits you right in the gut with his nonchalant approach to telling some of the most morbid and/or disturbing stories that the good book has to offer. There are tales of tent pegs through heads, bread cooked over human manure, people being attacked with javelins, fathers caught naked in tents, and even the covenantal value of circumcision. And yet, as these stories are told Half-Handed Cloud is able to portray human nature - the good and bad - without ever being didactic. He merely guides the listener's eyes and ears to the subtleties of the stories and leaves the interpretation up to you.

Musically, Thy Is A Word And Feet Need Lamps is a little harder to describe. Imagine - if you will - Brian Wilson and Sufjan Stevens teaming up to write children's music for Sunday School. Wilson's influence is clearly shown in the layers of tight vocal harmonies and upbeat melodies. And much like Sufjan Stevens (who plays drums on the album), Ringhofer has the ability to go from having full instrumental orchestration to a more sparse and simplistic sound and then back again with flawless transitions.

Even the album artwork is interesting in that it seems to be optimistic and happy, yet there is something mysterious and cryptic about the images. Ringhofer is an artist in every sense of the word: his album art (which he did) is intriguing and aesthetically pleasing, his musical art is innovative and original, and his lyrics artfully communicate some very complex things in very simple language. Delusions of Adequacy put it well when they wrote, "Despite it's running time, there is nothing anti-intellectual or simplistic about John Ringhofer's art." There are some very complex aspects to putting together a sound like Half-Handed Cloud and Ringhofer has done a flawless job at creating a basically flawless album.

If you are a fan of past Half-Handed Cloud releases, you will not be let down by Thy Is A Word And Feet Need Lamps. If you have enjoyed anything that Sufjan Stevens or Dan Smith (both of whom assisted on the album) have created, you will probably get a lot out of this record as there are some similarities in all of their art. Fans of the Beach Boys/Brian Wilson and even newer bands like Animal Collective will also be able to appreciate the intricate details and the attention paid to melody on this disc more than a casual listener. If you do listen and find that you don't "get it", try playing it a few more times and eventually it will all make sense. This is a wonderful album and barring an unlikely surge of incredible albums it will most likely find a place on my top ten list for 2005.

4/4