Hooves on the Turf

Download “You Could Be“ | Canada’s instrumental three-piece Torngat is returning to New York on April 2nd for a Wordless show at Le Poisson Rouge with the International Contemporary Ensemble. I was really taken with them when they opened for Múm’s Wordless show at St. Apostle Church in the fall of 2007. I was disappointed with the choices Múm made for their set list in response to the gorgeous venue–they thought it would suit to be pallid and ghastly–but Torngat did something that chilled me completely, and I was to remain impressed with them forever for having done such a perfect thing in response to where they were…

Download “Bordeaux Boredom” | St. Apostle is a gorgeous, breathtaking church, designed to sound divine by way of reverb, of course. Two of the band members left the stage, one playing the trumpet and the other the french horn; they split up in opposite directions to separately walk the entire length of the floor (where the audience was seated), and then around, playing strange notes. At the end of it, they came together in front of the stage to merge the two horns almost inside of each other and go nuts. It was fantastic! It was like being submerged in paradise, which is of course always filled with an orchestra of animal sounds. Elephants, birds, lions! 

The music posted here is from their previous album You Could Be, which is an intricate web/symphony of simple melodies–the new one comes out in March; and some photos from the St. Apostle Church show are below. Check out the impressive 2009 Wordless calendar, which brings-back The Books, one of my all-time favorites, on April 9.

Websites: Torngat