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Horse Stories - "Hummingbird (We'll be okay)"

little-videos.com

January 26, 2010

There was a slight break in what had become an uncharacteristically long stretch of rain for LA, luckily clearing up just long enough for us to record, but not so much for loading gear in and out of the house. It was already beginning to get dark when I showed up, Toby was nursing a cup of tea and admittedly a bit under the weather. Winding through hallways, up staircases, around corners, through bedrooms (I completely lost my sense of direction at some point), an eventual doorway opened up into a secluded little space, lined with an assortment of instruments, amps, and studio gear (including not only an upright piano, but an old Hammond with a homemade leslie; a Craigslist pickup he'd made off a mad-scientist in La Puente -- he's actually using the bass pedals on the Hammond during the take of "Standing in the Snow"). This room used to be a partially outdoor patio, but after moving in, Toby took on converting it into a usable studio space, leaving a single window framing Downtown in the distance. Apparently the place was in serious disrepair when they moved in, but you wouldn't guess that looking at it now.

There's something that's almost too fitting about this music on such a cold and dreary day. That intimate coziness in Burke's songwriting that feels as if it might have been crafted by a fireplace during a snowed-in winter. Horse Stories' latest, "November, November," is beautifully rich and meticulously thoughtful, seeping with sincerity. Burke's traditional folk tendencies have a stripped-down, acoustic heart, that manage to be original yet strangely familiar and entirely captivating.

Toby made the rounds on the various instruments in his studio that day, playing four songs: one on the upright, one on an electric (and Hammond), one with the nylon, and one with the steel string.

Find out more about Horse Stories @ www.myspace.com/horsestories

Camera: Elliot Glass
Sound: Elliot Glass
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