this is a strings/guitar cover Evan and I did for a thing and I think it sounds feckin' neat! 
(ignore the pitchy violin bits, the rest makes up for it)

the art is "Flight of Foxes" by one of my favorite artists, Wirrow

Wonderwall

Kissing The Lipless (looped Violin)

Chicago (looped Violin)

The Warmth (cover)

Frodo's Lament for Gandalf

When evening in the Shire was grey
his footsteps first were heard;
before the dawn he journeyed out again
without a word.

From Wilderland to Western shore,
from north to southern hill,
through dragon-lair and hidden door
through the dark he walked at will.

With Dwarf and Hobbit, Elves and Men,
with high and common folk,
with bird on bough and beast in den,
in secret tongues he spoke.

With a deadly sword, a healing hand,
a back that bore his load;
a trumpet-voice, a burning brand,
grey pilgrim on the road.

A lord of wisdom, he was
swift in anger, quick to laugh;
an old man in battered hat
leaned on a thorny staff.

And he stood upon the bridge 
and Fire and Shadow both defied;
when his staff was broken on the stone,
in Khazad-dûm his wisdom died.

When Evening In the Shire Was Grey

The words belong to the Ents (read: Treebeard)(read: Tolkien), the melody belongs to Malinky (marvelous group from Scotland - check them out!) ... I combined the two under the influence of a dear friend who was reciting the verse while Malinky's "Pad the Road Wi' Me" played in the background.

As you can gather below, it's mostly an argument between the Ent and Ent-wife over whose land is best. 

ENT:
When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough;
When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on the brow;
When stride is long, and breath is deep, and keen the mountain-air,
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is fair!

ENTWIFE:
When Spring is come to garth and field, and corn is in the blade;
When blossom like a shining snow is on the orchard laid;
When shower and Sun upon the Earth with fragrance fill the air,
I'll linger here, and will not come, because my land is fair.

ENT:
When Summer lies upon the world, and in a noon of gold
Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves the dreams of trees unfold;
When woodland halls are green and cool, and wind is in the West,
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is best!

ENTWIFE:
When Summer warms the hanging fruit and burns the berry brown;
When straw is gold, and ear is white, and harvest comes to town;
When honey spills, and apple swells, though wind be in the West,
I'll linger here beneath the Sun, because my land is best!

ENT:
When Winter comes, the winter wild that hill and wood shall slay;
When trees shall fall and starless night devour the sunless day;
When wind is in the deadly East, then in the bitter rain
I'll look for thee, and call to thee; I'll come to thee again!

ENTWIFE:
When Winter comes, and singing ends; when darkness falls at last;
When broken is the barren bough, and light and labour past;
I'll look for thee, and wait for thee, until we meet again:
Together we will take the road beneath the bitter rain!

BOTH:
Together we will take the road that leads into the West,
And far away will find a land where both our hearts may rest.


Ent and the Ent-wife

This is a cover of Coldplay's "Fix You" that I arranged for an all-female a capella choir I was a part of in 2008 called Ellement. For every concert, we each got to pick a solo and either arrange it with the group or on our own, all by ear. One of the most magical and melodious groups of ladies there ever was.

Fix You (a capella cover)

Go Long from Joanna Newsom's album Have One On Me. I think this is one of the most beautiful and devastating songs I've ever heard.

Last night, again, you were in my dream
several expendable limbs were at stake
you were a prince, spinning rims
all sentiments indian-given and half-baked

I was brought in on a palanquin
made of the many bodies of beautiful women
brought to this place to be examined,
swaying on an elephant: a princess of india

We both want the very same thing.
We are praying I am the one to save you 
But you don't even own your own violence
Run away from home- your beard is still blue
with the loneliness of you mighty men,
with your jaws and fists and guitars and pens 
and your sugarlip,
but I've never been to the firepits with you mighty men

Who made you this way?
Who made you this way?
Who's going to bear your beautiful children?
Do you think you can just stop, 
when you're ready for a change?
Who will take care of you
when you're old and dying?

You burn in the Mekong, to prove your worth,
Go Long! Go Long! Right over the edge of the earth!
You have been wronged, tore up since birth.
You have done harm.
Others have done worse.

Will you tuck your shirt?
Will you leave it loose?
You are badly hurt.
You're a silly goose.

You are caked in mud,
and in blood, and worse. 
Chew your bitter cud,
Grope your little nurse.

Do you know why my ankles are bound in gauze
(sickly dressage: a princess of kentucky)?
In the middle of the woods (which were the probable cause),
we danced in the lodge like two panting monkeys.

I will give you a call, for one last hurrah.
If this tale is tall, forgive my scrambling.
But you keep palming along the wall,
moving at a blind crawl, but always rambling.

Wolf-spider, crouch in your funnel nest,
If I knew you, once, now I know you less
In the sinking sand where we've come to rest,
have I had a hand in your loneliness?

When you leave me alone in this old palace of yours,
it starts to get to me; I take to walking.
What a woman does is open doors,
and it is not a question of locking
or unlocking.

Well, I have never seen such a terrible room-
gilded with the gold teeth of the women who loved you!
Now, though I die, Magpie, this I bequeath:
by any other name a jay is still blue

with the loneliness of you mighty men,
with your mighty kiss that might never end,
while, so far away, in the seat of the west,
burns the fount of the heat
of that loneliness.

There's a man who only will speak in code,
backing slowly, slowly down the road.
May he master everything 
that such men may know
about loving, 
and then letting go.


Go Long (cover)

Devastating song by an impossibly talented artist called Daughter, humbly rendered by the back stairwell and myself.

In the Shallows (cover)

cover of a cover of a Modest Mouse song by Sun Kil Moon

Caty Petersilge

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