Half-handed Cloud at Eastern Nazarene College

Randall Stephens

In the Boston area? Make it over to the ENC history department on Wed night for a mini-concert by Half-handed Cloud. The skinny . . .


The History Department is proud to present indie-pop singer songwriter John Ringhofer/Half-handed Cloud, who will be performing in the Cameron Center, OC Campus, Rm 107, at 7:00pm on Wed, Aug 3. Half-handed Cloud, Ringhofer's one-man band, has released a number of CDs and records in the last decade. Brimming with historical and theological themes, his music explores the fringes of art rock and micro-pop. His CDs are available through the Asthmatic Kitty and Sounds Familyre labels.

Ringhofer has won high praise from critics. "In the last few years there has been a gravitation from tried-and-true rock paradigms," says a New York Times reporter, "driven both by boredom with the increasingly threadbare conventions of indie rock and by a sincere, if playful, rediscovery of experimentalists as diverse as Van Dyke Parks and Philip Glass." The writer ranked Ringhofer as one of "the boldest of these" artists. Paste magazine calls Ringhofer "the master of intricately fragmented art pop, with four full-length releases so tightly constructed that individual moments can hardly be extracted without compromising their elaborate song-suite structures."

Ringhofer has toured widely with his band and as a trombonist for the critically-acclaimed Sufjan Stevens. And . . . Ringhofer also knows more about the roots of God Rock (late 60s-early 70s) than anyone I know. I think that shows in his ebullient songs. He mixes it up. A dash of Phil Keaggy, and helpings of Ween, Biff Rose, Larry Norman, late-90s Of Montreal, and Doktor Kosmos. He made me an incredible comp some years back that included some amazingly trippy Jesus People tunes.

The doors of the department will be blown off, or unhinged. Donations for the artist are welcome at the event.

Comments

Charity Carney said…
FUN! They have a Danielson feel to them, too--guess it makes sense that they're on the their label. Saw Danielson in concert in Houston last year in flight attendant gear. I was awesome.
Randall said…
Danielson puts on a great show. It's been years since I saw them. Enjoyed the documentary about the band that came out a few years back.
Charity Carney said…
I'm just sad that I caught on after the fruits of the spirit tree. The doc is very good.

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