From 'Proud Animal' by Proud Animal 2012

Barbara Adler & Gavin Youngash 

Light Was Young

Here's what I could pull from my old stuff to give an idea of what all of this could sound like, but of course, it will always be verrrry different...

Indie Boogie

Some weird stuff happens on this recording! But, yo'! Check out us taking on an old, racist song (Cherokee Boogie), and making it about nostalgia. Just so you know, this song is so fun to play. 

Check out the spoken word outro arrangement...

Fool's Gold

David Newberry and Barbara Adler tell the story of Ernest Thompson Seton and the Natures Fakers Controversy, using music, fiction and the sweet voices of many wolves. 


Ernest Thompson Seton was an early version of what we might now call a “naturalist.” He became fascinated with the wilderness at a young age, apparently while wandering the “unexplored wilderness North of Dundas” in his hometown of Toronto, in order to avoid spending time with his overbearing father.

Later in life, in search of more wild experiences, he pursued a career as a wolf hunter on the Canadian prairies, eventually leading to the classic born-again-environmentalist “what have I done” moment. After killing one too many of his targets, Seton vowed to become a defender of nature.

Taking on the persona of “Black Wolf,” Seton set about writing a series of stories that famously gave personality, consciousness, and even language to his animal characters. This upset a number of more traditionally scientific naturalists, erupting into a comically large international scandal known as “natures fakers,” which David Newberry and Barbara Adler explore in this piece.

Black wolf,
Black wolf...
I want you to call me
Black wolf...
I asked you to call me
Black wolf...
credits
released 05 March 2015
Text performed by David Newberry and Barbara Adler
Composition by Barbara Adler
Bass, Effects: James Meger
Electric Guitar, Vocals: David Newberry
Pianet: Barbara Adler

Instruments and sung vocals recorded by James Meger at SlugBait Studios. February 2015
Mixed by Barbara Adler
Mastered by Vilhelm Sundin 

Call Me Black Wolf: a musical essay

Name Me

Moon

Ten Thousand Wolves is a multidisciplinary workhorse led by Canadian artist Barbara Adler. The projects gathered under its flag are unapologetically eclectic, mixing songwriting, storytelling, theater, comedy and whatever other tool comes to hand. The result could be called contemporary songspiel.

____________________________________

The set-list changes frequently. Genres get mussed, instrumentation varies and the line-up, so far, fluctuates between one person and fourteen. Future projects may involve either more members, or fewer, but currently, the key collaborators are: theater artist and designer Kyla Gardiner, vocalists Shannon Scott, Juhli Conlinn and Emily Lyall (The Company B Singers), guitarist Gavin Youngash, bassist James Meger, drummer Skye Brooks and online magazine\cultural entity VANDOCUMENT.

Running through it all is an obsession with the music of the performed word-- whether sung or spoken, whispered to the private ear or spontaneously bantered, lushly harmonized or brashly shout-rocked. Subject matter varies, but is often oriented around relationships: between people, between people and places, between groups and outsiders, and most recently, between Nature and Society. The words matter, but so does rhythmic conviction. In its heart of hearts, Ten Thousand Wolves dreams of an audience that likes thinking as much as it likes losing itself in the drums. And vice versa. It was conceived as a way to bring coherence to a process of ongoing reinvention, so the best way to get to know it is through the current projects. Right now these are: Klasika, The Johnny Horton Remix, and Pathetic Fallacy.

 And yes, Ten Thousand Wolves ate FANG. 

Fangshouts

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