Flying Scroll Flight Control

by Half-Handed Cloud

Overview

John Ringhofer, the brain behind Half-Handed Cloud's joyfully slight songcraft, found a voice for his Christian message over the course of multiple albums of homespun twee pop that often flies by in strings of whimsical one-minute songs. Flying Scroll Flight Control is the sixth full-length from Half-Handed Cloud, and it follows the same path of sweetly humble indie-bred chamber pop that other albums have had, recorded in full on an analog 16-track tape machine, resulting in a slightly more organic sound. Ringhofer recorded the album in the Berkeley, California church where he lived rent-free in return for custodial services over the course of many months, and the album crackles with meticulously placed detail. The opening suite of songs "Pneumatic Mystery Envelopes," "Sensei Says," and "What Spins, by Your Hand Was Spun" blurs into a micro-epic of endless changes in sound, with Mellotrons, tape manipulation, guitars, flutes, organs, and choruses of voices supporting Ringhofer's high nasal lead vocals in a happy wash of sound. Much of Flying Scroll Flight Control washes past in this manner, with many of the 18 songs zooming by in less than a minute and none of them going past the three-minute mark. This beautifully arranged collage for dangerously short attention spans is matched with lyrics singing the praises of Jesus and devotion to the Christian religion. The muted analog production meeting with cartoonish arrangements and religious sentiments leave the album feeling like some kind of pleasant soundtrack to a Christian summer camp where Van Dyke Parks and Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes are the counselors. The album finds a rocking high point in "Festus, I Am Not Out of My Mind," a 46-second song with a melody that recalls both the fuzzy, unbridled joy of the Unicorns and the vocal arrangements of Sufjan Stevens, who contributes heavily as a multi-instrumentalist throughout the album. ~ Fred Thomas

Product Details

Release Date:	06/10/2014
Label:	Asthmatic Kitty
UPC:	0656605612126
Rank:	173310

Tracks

1. Pneumatic Mystery Envelopes
2. Sensei Says
3. What Spins, by Your Hand Was Spun
4. Debtors to Greeks & Barbarians
5. Titus Three
6. We Toil and Struggle
7. He's Already on Everyone's Side
8. Psychic Failure, Utmost Patience
9. Enlightenment in the Way
10. Even If Angels Arrive with Plausable News
11. Festus, I Am Not Out of My Mind
12. He Can't Deny Himself
13. We Speak of What We Know
14. Live as the Children of Light Inside of You
15. Secret Wisdom Intervening
16. Tablets Breathing Their Last Breath
17. Now the Veiled Faces Can Breathe
18. Flying Scroll Flight Patrol

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Half-Handed Cloud   Primary Artist
John Ringhofer   Piano,Stick,Vocals,Tremolo,Autoharp,Trombone,Fuzz Bass,Omnichord,Percussion,Stylophone,Choir/Chorus,Glockenspiel,Guitar (Bass),Train Whistle,Guitar (Electric),Banjo,Box
Suzie Shin   Choir/Chorus
Wendy Campbell   Choir/Chorus
Brandon Buckner   Drums
Sonja van Hamel   Vocal Harmony
Elaine Yau   Choir/Chorus
Karen Grutter   Clarinet,Choir/Chorus
Kathryn Gaerlick   Cello
Sufjan Stevens   Vocals (Background),Choir/Chorus,Synthesizer,Percussion,Recorder,Celeste,Flute
Thera Ringhofer   Choir/Chorus

Technical Credits

John Ringhofer   Artwork,Arranger,Composer,Engineer,Field Recording,Mixing
Brandon Buckner   Drum Engineering
Sufjan Stevens   Overdub Engineer,Mixing
John Dieterich   Mastering