White Hot

Fire

Ways To Be Great

lost

depose

continuous, wait

To The Roaring Wind

A story of longing arranged into a bed of radishes and flowers. It begins at rest and then erupts.

This is the title track of the album and (most days) it's my favorite track.

About the ending:
My sister and brother-in-law have a basement speakeasy lined with books of poetry. There's a tradition of picking a poem at random, reading it aloud to the group, and then beginning a short, tongue-in-cheek exposition by saying “Clearly, this poem”… as if we knew what the poem was about. Sometimes we uncover some layers together, or while we're speaking we stumble into some other idea that’s interesting and new. That's one reason why I like poetry - it inspires new ideas.

At the end of this song, after going into the world of this poem created by Wallace Stevens, I stopped singing and responded with music that’s my own “Clearly” statement.


Lyrics adapted from the poem
"Cy Est Pourtraicte, Madame Ste Ursule, et Les Unze Mille Vierges"
by Wallace Stevens

Ursula, in a garden, found
A bed of radishes.
She knelt upon the ground
And gathered round,
The flowers blue, gold, and green.

She dressed in red and gold brocade
And in the grass an offering made
Of radishes and flowers.

She said, "My dear,
Upon your altar,
I have placed
The marguerite and coquelicot,
And roses
Frail as April snow;
"Where none can see,
I make an offering,
Of radishes and flowers."

And then she wept
For fear the Lord would not accept.


released January 24, 2020
Musicians: Jesse Blake Rundle - Vocals, Guitars, Piano. Nate Agenbroad - Drums, Upright Bass.
Engineering: Nate Agenbroad at Mixed Metaphor Studios
Mastering: Gus Elg at Sky Onion

Radishes and Flowers

Vinyl

Full album out April 10. Preview and 12" Vinyl preorder here on Bandcamp. 
https://jesseblakerundle.bandcamp.com/album/radishes-and-flowers

I still recall the windy day I first read this poem by Stevens. I was in a park in Santa Fe with the cloudy skies overhead and those opening lines, “life contracts, and death is expected,” stuck in my mind. It was a chilling, but real, feeling. It is hard to look death in the face. Many years later, after watching my mother face death, the words hit harder.

This is the first song that I worked with Nate at Mixed Metaphor in Boise to take the acoustic version into a full production. We did a version of this song over a year ago and after that we hunkered down and spent the next year collaborating on the whole album.

This track is the album version with some new layers, harmonies, and a new mix to fit the character of the whole project.

LYRICS

The Death of a Soldier
By Wallace Stevens

Life contracts and death is expected,
As in a season of autumn.
The soldier falls.

He does not become a three-days personage,
Imposing his separation,
Calling for pomp.

Death is absolute and without memorial,
As in a season of autumn,
When the wind stops,

When the wind stops and, over the heavens,
The clouds go, nevertheless,
In their direction.

CREDITS
released February 21, 2020
Engineering: Nate Agenbroad at Mixed Metaphor Studios
Mastering: Gus Elg at Sky Onion
Musicians: Jesse Blake Rundle - Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Wurlitzer, Organ, Percussion

The Death Of A Soldier

Nomad Exquisite is the first song from my Radishes and Flowers project. It's a song cycle adapted from the poetry of Wallace Stevens' Harmonium. This one's about Florida. 

The song takes you straight to the everglades - it's an explorer's song. The line "As the immense dew of Florida," keeps repeating and acts as an invocation of Florida's humid air and all that it brings with it: sweat, grass, trees, life.

Spotify / iTunes / etc:
https://ffm.to/nomad.opr

Lyric video:
https://youtu.be/MfIAn1NCwz0


___Credits___
Lyrics: Adapted from “Nomad Exquisite” by Wallace Stevens 
Art: Ryan Hadden
Production: Jesse Blake Rundle 
Engineering: Nate Agenbroad at Mixed Metaphor Studios
Mastering: Gus Elg at Sky Onion Studios
Musicians: Jesse Blake Rundle - Vocals, Guitars, Synth, Percussion. Chris Ross - Percussion. Jordon Harris - Trombone. Nate Agenbroad - Bass, Percussion.


Nomad Exquisite

As the immense dew of Florida
Brings forth
The big-finned palm
And green vine angering for life,

As the immense dew of Florida
Brings forth hymn and hymn
From the beholder,
Beholding all these green sides
And gold sides of green sides,

And blessed mornings,
Meet for the eye of the young alligator,
And lightning colors
So, in me, come flinging
Forms, flames, and the flakes of flames.

Nomad Exquisite

Henceforth

written and recorded by Jesse Blake Rundle

#1

The percussion is almost all "sounds of summer" that came from suggestions from friends. After tracking the vocals and guitar in July, I sent it out to a few folks and asked them what sounds make them think of summer. Knives chopping veggies, bike tires spinning, grass crunching, pots boiling over, etc. I ended up trying out a couple dozen suggestions and most of them ended up on the track.

#2

It started out as an idea of a victory song. Like trying to see how there's all this good stuff out there in the world, how gold is not a currency but a thing that comes from the earth. And I was thinking of Emily Dickinson's poem "Certain Slant of Light", but instead of the oppressive light in her poem, the slant of summer light that pulls everyone out on bikes and neighborhood walks. And we accidentally start smiling sometimes. 

#3

An anthem for late capitalism -- or just something nice for riding bikes to in the summer. It really depends on your perspective.

#4

It's a little known fact that in 2011, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was asked a question by US Senator Ron Paul.

"Is gold money?"

The question took him into a long stare and long pause.

Then, "...no, it's a precious metal."

It's Gold Outside

I'm a singer, songwriter, and producer from Boise, Idaho. NEXT TOWN'S TREES is my second album. My album RADISHES AND FLOWERS was inspired by Wallace Stevens' poetry.

Jesse Blake Rundle

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