1 As America Crumbles, I Sit in My Room Dreaming Up Silly Songs
4 Holy Bubble
5 Staying Home Every Night
6 Lullaby for Naughty Children
7 Lidia's Attached to the Stars
8 So Cry
9 Sara, Move with Me to Canada
10 Goodbye Ting
11 Raccoon and Skunk Fall for Each Other
All music © 2011 by Myk Freedman, SOCAN
Wes Cheang - acoustic guitar
Ryan Driver - analog synthesizer
Myk Freedman - lap steel
Tania Gill - piano & melodica
Julia Hambleton - clarinet
Kai Koschmider - alto saxophone
Jake Oelrichs - drums & glockenspiel
Mike Overton - bass
Produced by Jean Martin
Recorded July 25 2009 by Jean Martin & Jeremy Darby
at Canterbury Music Company, Toronto, Canada
St. Dirt Elementary School is a little big band; it's a salon orchestra; it's a cabaret pitband; it's a New School concert band half-remembering old school psychedelics in a district West of Weimar and North of San Antonio. It is both public and private. It can swing like a Kollektief or shamble like a seaside sinfonia. St. Dirt Elementary School plays compositions: rubberband exotica, bouncing like bamboo windchimes dangling from the hood of a springloaded pram.
"A great group of zanies here."
-John Zorn
"Lap-steel whiz Myk Freedman excels at intensely evocative instrumentals that draw on Dixieland, klezmer and avant-garde jazz. His aesthetic is wistful yet subtly surreal."
-Time Out New York
"Freedman’s ballads are some of the most gorgeous music in jazz right now."
-David Dacks, Exclaim! Magazine
Un deuxième album pour Saint Dirt Elementary School, l’ensemble dirigé par le joueur de lap steel Myk Freedman. Et c’est un grand pas en avant, un disque splendide, plein de courtes pièces naïves, jolies à sourire irrésistiblement. L’ouverture “As America Crumbles, I Sit in My Room Dreaming Up Silly Songs” a un côté Klimperei indubitable (le glockenspiel), alors que les rythmes latino de “Zombies Love Dancin’ to this Number” évoquent Jono el Grande forniquant avec Perrey & Kingsley. Ailleurs, on sent des affinités franches avec la Fanfare Pourpour, les Pascals et le défunt duo suédois Sagor & Swing. Du bonbon, un coup de cœur immédiat. [Ci-dessous: Deux minutes de “Zombies Love Dancin’ to this Number”.]
A second opus for Saint Dirt Elementary School, an ensemble led by lap-steel player Myk Freedman. And this one’s a big step forward, a truly beautiful record of short naive pieces, so pretty they’ll make you smile in harmony. The opening tune “As America Crumbles, I Sit in My Room Dreaming Up Silly Songs” has an unavoidable Klimperei feel (the glockenspiel), while the Latin rhythms in “Zombies Love Dancin’ to this Number” bring to mind Jono el Grande shacking up with Perrey & Kingsley. Elsewhere, the music displays strong affinities with Fanfare Pourpour, Pascals and Swedish duo Sagor & Swing. Candy for the ear, instantly endearing. [Below: Two minutes from “Zombies Love Dancin’ to this Number.”]
SAINT DIRT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Abandoned Ballroom
