The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Tuesday, April 11, 2017 — 5

A Far Cry and Roomful 
of Teeth to play Rackham

NEW AMSTERDAM RECORDS

Room Full of Teeth will be performing at Rackham this Wednesday.

At its heart, public music 

making is about the way in 
which we exist in the same 
time 
and 
place 
as 
other 

people. It’s about how we 
communicate with and relate 
to one another. The playing of 
music is a conversation of sorts, 
an 
interaction 
undertaken 

between the musicians and 
the listeners, each member of 
the dialogue giving something 
and taking something away. It’s 
not a coincidence, then, that 
some of the most interesting 
and engaging music composed 
both throughout history and 
in the present comes from 
a 
wellspring 
of 
mutually 

supportive 
and 
inspiring 

relationships 
between 

musicians. 
On 
Wednesday 

night, 
concert 
goers 
at 

Rackham 
Auditorium 
will 

have the chance to witness 
the fruits of some of these 
relationships in a joint concert 
by the contemporary music 
ensembles A Far Cry and 
Roomful of Teeth.

“It’s a funny thing, often 

in popular culture classical 
musicians are portrayed as 
being very competitive and 
cutthroat with each other,” 
said 
violinist 
Miki-Sophia 

Cloud. “Which of course is 
true in some circles and true 
to some extent, but what’s 
really beautiful about this 
program is that every single 
one of the pieces on the 
program comes from a really 
respectful and inspiring and 
beautiful relationship between 
musicians that were either 
contemporaries or had a very 
close relationship.”

Cloud is a violinist with the 

Boston-based 
contemporary 

music chamber orchestra A 
Far Cry, which was founded 
in 2007 and has since rocketed 
towards the forefront of the 
new music scene. Nominated 
for a Grammy in 2015 for the 
their first album, Dreams and 
Prayers (a recording of Osvaldo 
Golijov’s piece of a similar 
name), the ensemble has been 
active 
in 
both 
performing 

works by living composers 
and 
commissioning 
new 

compositions. On Wednesday 
the chamber orchestra — along 
with the acclaimed, Grammy-
winning 
contemporary 

music vocal octet Roomful of 
Teeth — will be presenting a 
diverse program which spans 
centuries and features three 
compositions 
commissioned 

by either one or both of the 
ensembles performing.

“As we’ve been living with 

this program, we’ve realized 
that it has a very special 
thematic tie, which is that all of 
the pieces on the program are 
really about the relationships 
that musicians have with each 
other,” Cloud said. In addition 
to works by Prokofiev and the 
Renaissance composer Josquin 

des Prez, the concert features 
compositions by two living 
composers, Caroline Shaw and 
Ted Hearne, both of whom are 
friends with members of the 
ensembles.

“When I was in grad school, 

at Yale School of Music, I was in 
a quartet with Caroline Shaw, 
actually, we both played violin 
in a quartet together at school, 
and we were great friends, and 
near the end of her time in 
school she started composing,” 
Cloud explained. “My first 
time hearing her music was at 
her Master’s recital, and I was 
so taken by what she wrote, I 
really specifically remember 
having this really involuntary 
emotional reaction to the piece 
she wrote, and just weeping in 
the concert hall, in the balcony, 
and thinking ‘oh my God.’ Not 
only is she talented in so many 
other ways, but she’s a really 
special voice as a composer as 
well.”

It wasn’t until several years 

later 
that 
this 
friendship 

blossomed into the composition 

“Music in Common Time,” 
which was written for A Far 
Cry and Roomful of Teeth 
and will be the final piece on 
Wednesday night’s concert.

“When I moved back to New 

York, we got together for coffee 
one day,” Cloud recollected. 
“And [Shaw] was telling me 
about this group Roomful of 
Teeth she was singing with, 
and how they just recorded 
their first album, and she wrote 
them a piece and she felt pretty 
excited about it, and I was like 
‘Oh my gosh, you should write a 
piece for A Far Cry.’”

They decided that Shaw 

should write a piece for both A 
Far Cry and Roomful of Teeth, 
of which Shaw is a member.

“We were all really excited 

about it, and then a few months 
later, maybe like the following 
Spring — that was in the Fall 
— in the Spring, you know, she 
won the Pulitzer Prize,” Cloud 
said. “And we were kind of 
laughing that we were lucky 
we got a place on the list before 
she got famous. So she wrote 
this beautiful work for our two 
groups.”

“This 
one 
— 
Music 
in 

Common Time — is a really 
important one to me,” Shaw 
wrote in an email interview. 
“I dove deep into the sound 
of strings and voices, into the 
world of A Far Cry (many of 
them are friends of mine, from 
my violin life) and Teeth. I’m 

not really ready to talk about 
this piece yet. Maybe in a few 
years.”

In 2013, at the age of 30, Shaw 

became the youngest person 
ever to win the prestigious 
Pulitzer Prize for Music, for 
her composition “Partita for 
8 Voices,” which appeared 
on Roomful of Teeth’s debut 
album. “Music in Common 
Time” was commissioned prior 
to the receipt of the prize, 
but after the composition of 
“Partita.”

“My friends Alex and Miki 

asked me to write this piece! 
Way back in 2013, before all 
the 
Pulitzer 
crazytimes,” 

Shaw wrote. “It was my first 
real commission, and it was 
a dream idea, and I am so 
grateful for them for thinking 
of this beautiful program.”

Shaw 
has 
an 
active 

compositional 
life, 

collaborating on pieces with 
the likes of Dawn Upshaw, So 
Percussion, Renee Fleming and 
Jonathan Biss in the classical 
world, and such well-known 
and iconic figures as Richard 
Reed Parry and Kanye West 
outside of the classical genre. 
On 
top 
of 
this, 
however, 

she 
maintains 
a 
presence 

as a performer, and will be 
appearing in her role as a 
member of Roomful of Teeth 
on Wednesday night. In this 
respect, the other featured 
contemporary composer on the 
program is similar.

“This will actually be a very 

special performance because 
Ted Hearne, the composer, 
will actually be singing tenor 
in Roomful of Teeth, which is 
a first,” Cloud said. “He was 
a classmate of both Caroline 
and mine at Yale, and we’ll be 
playing two of his pieces.”

Hearne, who is a member 

of 
a 
group 
of 
composers 

known as the Sleeping Giant 
Collective and an assistant 
professor of composition at 
USC, was commissioned by 
A Far Cry to write his piece 
“Law of Mosaics” a few years 
ago, excerpts of which will be 
performed 
on 
Wednesday’s 

concert.

“‘Law of Mosaics’ is a piece 

that is sort of based on this idea 
of appropriation, you know, 
of the classical music canon 
and music in general,” Hearne 
said. “So the conceit behind 
that piece is that it’s made up 
of pre-existing music, there 
is actually no quote-unquote 
original music that was written 
for it, it’s kind of a patchwork of 
pre-existing pieces arranged in 
a new way.”

One of the movements of 

“Law of Mosaics” featured 
on Wednesday’s concert is 
“Palindrome 
for 
Andrew 

Norman,” which appropriates 
music from Andrew Norman’s 
“Companion Guide to Rome,” a 
string trio which was a finalist 
for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012. 
Norman, 
who 
like 
Hearne 

is a member of the Sleeping 
Giant Collective and teaches 

DAYTON HARE
Senior Arts Editor

VERVE

Michelle Branch’s recent album was released April 7th
I want to love ‘Hopeless 
Romantic,’ but I just can’t

Fourteen years later, Branch makes mediocre return to music

The early 2000s were an 

incredible period for alternative 
music — especially those in 
the 
singer-songwriter 
vein. 

From 
Vanessa 
Carlton 
to 

Avril Lavigne, pop anthems 
were produced at an alarming 
rate. But the true pioneer of 
this movement was Michelle 
Branch, responsible for insanely 
catchy, cathartic tracks like 
“Everywhere,” 
“All 
You 

Wanted” and “Breathe.”

Fourteen years after her 

initial success, Branch is back. 
Delayed by issues with previous 
record 
label 
Warner 
Bros., 

Branch recorded her newest 
effort 
Hopeless 
Romantic 

with 
Black 
Keys 
drummer 

and current boyfriend Patrick 
Carney. 
The 

result is vastly 
different 
from 

the sound that 
marked the early 
2000s, 
but 
it’s 

nonetheless 
a 

mostly 
solid, 

varied addition to 
modern pop.

The 
album 

opens 
with 
a 

rocky 
start 
on 

“Best You Ever,” 
a 
bass 
heavy 

track about self-
efficacy in love. 
It’s a bit cliché to 
begin a record titled Hopeless 
Romantic with such a track, 
but it’s far from indicative of 
the rest of the material. The 
instrumentals 
are 
a 
great 

example of Branch’s expanding 
sound but do little to resurrect 
the 
song 
beyond 
its 
basic 

content.

The album quickly reaches 

what can be expected from 
modern pop standards, but 
rarely 
exceeds 
it. 
“You’re 

Good” is easily comparable to 
a Carly Rae Jepsen track, while 
single “Fault Line” is the most 
uniquely Branch’s. “Just when 
I was thinking that I couldn’t 
be lonely any longer / You start 
to pull me under when I try to 
keep my head above the water” 
Branch sings on the first verse 
of the song, using 
a 
metaphorical 

approach to her 
lyricism.

Branch 
hasn’t 

forgotten 
how 

to write a pop 
banger 
though. 

“Heartbreak 
Now” 
brings 

in poppy horn melodies over 
dreamy synth, and it stands out 
among the rest. It’s a beautifully 

crafted 
track 

where Carney’s 
production 
shines 
brightly 

— let’s be honest, 
horns 
make 

almost any song 
better.

Branch 
also 

isn’t 
afraid 
to 

stray 
towards 

the more R&B 
side of pop — a 
scene 
mostly 

dominated 
by 

Lana 
Del 
Rey 

and FKA twigs. 
The title track 

puts a rollicking beat to the 
music, while Branch brings 
her prior soprano tone down 
to a deeper slurring. Again, it’s 
a great showcase of diversity 
on the record, but it also fails 
to be very memorable, despite 
sharing its name with the 
record.

What we really needed from 

Branch was a continuation of the 
catharsis from her previous two 
records — they were drenched 
in emotion. While Hopeless 
Romantic features some good 
pop 
tunes, 
it’s 
heavy 
pop 

focus masks the characteristic 
emotion that launched Branch 
into the spotlight. Despite the 
separation of over a decade, it’s 
impossible to separate turn-of-
the-millennium Branch from 

Branch 
today; 

the 
record 
just 

feels 
like 
less 

of 
an 
artistic 

progression, and 
more of a decent 
entry point into 
modern pop.

Competition 

also detracts from 

the record. In a world with pop 
giants like Grimes and Marina 
and the Diamonds, pop artists 
need a sound that strongly 
differentiates themselves in the 
“Top 40” sea. Again, Hopeless 
Romantic is great, enjoyable 
music, but it lacks a signature 
feel that would compel listeners 
to keep returning. I want to 
love it as badly as I love Spirit 
Room, but the fact of the matter 
is that today’s world is cruel, 
and it doesn’t contain the 
spark needed to survive on the 
battlefield of pop music.

Branch’s third studio album 

contains fun pop tunes with 
classic (probably too classic at 
times) heartbreak lyricism. Its 
sound is thankfully varied and 
rarely stale, but it also pales in 
its attempt to be compelling. 
Branch is back, and if her record 
is any indication, her continued 
evolution in the modern world 
of pop could be something to 
pay attention to in the future — 
but for now we’ll have to wait 
for her to find a sound that is 
hers alone.

DOMINIC POLSINELLI

Daily Arts Writer

A Far Cry with 

Roomful of 

Teeth

Wednesday April 

12, 7:30 p.m.

Rackham 
Auditorium

$24 - $46: Students 

$12 - $20

Hopeless 
Romantic

Michelle Branch 

Verve

COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW

ALBUM REVIEW

Shaw, Hearne and Cloud talk with us about their upcoming show

at USC, was also classmates at 
Yale with Hearne, Shaw and 
Cloud. This sort of exchange 
of ideas and inspirations is 
the type of symbiosis to which 
Cloud referred when she spoke 
of this program being about 
relationships 
between 
the 

musicians.

“I came up in conservatory 

in the early 2000s, right, I 
graduated in 2004, and at 
that time the people we were 
supposed 
to 
be 
studying 

as, 
like, 
making 
the 
best 

contemporary classical music, 
those composers who were 
older, a lot of the people who 
were entrenched in school in 
our education, they were not 
that inspiring to me,” Hearne 
said. “There’s a lot of composer 
colleagues of mine who I think 
probably feel the same way, 
but for me, I really came to be 
inspired by some of the other 
composers I met along the 
way who were my age, who 
were in my generation, who 
were influenced by a lot of 
things around them besides the 

venerated canon of classical 
music … so I think that, for 
me, the people that I’m most 
inspired by are my peers.”

Another piece of Hearne’s 

will 
be 
featured 
on 
the 

program, 
“Coloring 
Book,” 

which was written for Roomful 
of Teeth and aims to explore 
themes of identity.

“‘Coloring 
Book’ 
is 
an 

appropriation of the words of 
African-American writers. It’s 
five movements, and I think 
we’re doing two movements 
that are texts taken from 
Zora 
Neale 
Hurston 
and 

one movement with texts by 
Claudia 
Rankine,” 
Hearne 

said. “Both incredible writers, 

but 
talking 
about 
identity 

and 
specifically 
African-

American identity, so the idea 
of appropriation plays into 
that a lot as well, because of 
course I am not able to speak 
about any sort of African-
American 
experience, 
but 

rather the conceit of the piece, 
the idea, is sort of an identity 
shift, examining the nature of 
identity itself by stepping into 
the words of someone who is 
different, and [asking] ‘what 
can that mean?’ ”

Performance is an act of 

social communion. It’s about 
the way we interact with 
one another, how we convey 
and receive our experiences. 
Wednesday’s 
program 
will 

stand as an example of the 
sort of ecstatic music making 
that can spring from the close 
friendships that form between 
musicians. 
Combining 
two 

of 
the 
most 
interesting 

composers and two of the most 
captivating ensembles active 
today, the evening promises to 
capture its listeners.

Its heavy pop 

focus masks the 
characteristic 
emotion that 

launched Branch 
into the spotlight

Performance is 
an act of social 
communion.

