Ghost Practice Orchestra and Kronos Quartet have organized a Moondog tribute album, Songs And Symphoniques: The Music Of Moondog, which can be launched on September 29. “The primary Moondog document I heard was the 1969 orchestra document merely titled Moondog,” Ghost Practice Orchestra’s Brian Carpenter stated in a press release. “Its cowl featured a really hanging picture of a person with an extended white beard and ornate headdress. From the very first observe I used to be instantly transported to a different world — a world of marvel and whimsy, darkness and wonder.”

He continued:

For many years Moondog lived and labored on the streets of New York Metropolis, but within the many years since he handed, no group in New York (and even worldwide) has significantly tackled the large breadth of his music. I needed to listen to what the proficient arrangers in Ghost Practice Orchestra might do along with his music and expertise it reside within the current day. Our collaboration with the legendary Kronos Quartet and this numerous forged of a few of my favourite singers was an unbelievable thrill. Kronos Quartet’s dedication to new music over the course of 5 many years has and continues to be an enormous inspiration to all of us. We hope you get pleasure from these reimaginings of the fantastic world of Moondog as a lot as we do.

What was initially conceived of as a collaboration between the 2 teams grew to include a number of different particular visitors, together with Marissa Nadler, Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis Cocker, Joan As Police Lady, Petra Haden, Karen Mantler, Sam Amidon, and Aoife O’Donovan. Immediately, we’re getting Nadler’s contribution to the album, her tackle Moondog’s “Excessive On A Rocky Ledge.”

“The mysterious, mythlike lyrics in ‘Excessive On A Rocky Ledge’ are nearly divinatory, the place grand themes are shrouded behind minimalistic imagery and melded with the ‘loveliest’ earworm of a melody,” she stated, persevering with:

There’s a loneliness within the repeated journeys to see the edelweiss, and a disappointment in my perceived loneliness of the character’s numerous journeys that made me drawn to the tune. This inanimate object, the lone lace-like flower, paperwork the passing of time, but in addition a definite love for the purity of nature. T. Rex referenced Moondog within the tune “Rabbit Fighter,” with the road “Moondog’s only a prophet to the top…” and that’s maybe how this tune lower deep for me. The attractive taking part in of the Kronos Quartet and Ghost Practice Orchestra give this rendition a sprawling area very like the mountain ranges and cliffs I think about this tune going down in. Jenni Hensler, a filmmaker who I’ve labored with a number of instances earlier than, additional interpreted her personal that means into the tune with lovely imagery, cosmic contemplation, and magically musical enhancing. (we had a blast looking for these places throughout the Northeast, primarily changing into the flower and the searcher).

Watch and hear under.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Theme”
02 “Be A Hobo” (Feat. Rufus Wainwright)
03 “Excessive On A Rocky Ledge” (Feat. Marissa Nadler)
04 “Caribea”
05 “Why Spend A Darkish Evening With You” (Feat. Joan As Police Lady)
06 “Sufficient About Human Rights” (Feat. Karen Mantler)
07 “I’m This, I’m That” (Feat. Jarvis Cocker)
08 “Communicate Of Heaven”
09 “The Viking Of sixth Avenue”
10 “Down Is Up” (Feat. Petra Haden)
11 “Espresso Beans” (Feat. Karen Mantler)
12 “Behold” (Feat. Sam Amidon & Aoife O’Donovan)
13 “Choo Choo Lullaby” (Feat. Brian Carpenter)
14 “Fog On The Hudson”
15 “See The Mighty Tree” (Feat. Petra Haden)
16 “Bumbo”
17 “All Is Loneliness” (Feat Joan Wasser)

Songs And Symphoniques: The Music Of Moondog is out 9/29 through Cantaloupe Music. Pre-order it right here.