Jessie Shaffer - guitar, vocals, songwriter
Heather Courtney - drums, vocals, songwriter
Bex Lee - violin, vocals
J Schultz - bass
Matt Boyle - guitar, vocals

Recorded by Matt Boyle, mixing by Matt Boyle, Sean R Ferguson, and Aaron Martinez.

Winterlast

Vampire Love

Nightshade

Near To Blind

Morning

Framed

Fall

Recorded this a while back in my melodica's last days.

UP FROM THE ARCHIVES: Winter Sky, By Billy Edd Wheeler

When I awake
I cannot find
a way out
into a time

Far off from here
forethought of never
haze unclear
retreat to rhyme

Surcease of faith
precluding space
vast, uncrossed
erasing thought

When you awake
you cannot find
a way out
If you are mine

If you were mine
If you were mine
I could look and barely see you
If you were mine
If you were mine
I'd rework my life to lead you

'Cause I can't go on

Let me restate
that call for challenge
felt so dear
led me awry

This chasm's fast
drop me down sweetly
face to cliff
another sigh

Dislodge my heart
forgive its reeling
shuttered, lost
fettered with cause

When I awake
I cannot find
a way out
If you are mine

If you were mine
If you were mine
I could look and barely see you 
If you were mine 
If you were mine
I'd rework my life to lead you

'Cause I can't go on

When we awake I crawl far away
When we awake I crawl far away
To go 
one will 
what now?
How'll I find me
in these weathered, dark blinders?

Blinders

Witness the magic this Saturday night at 8pm at Pianos, NYC!!!

Bunny Punch-Pianos Audio Promo

Water Into Sand

I wanted to wake up
Pulling up the wool from before your eyes
Hoping your jailer would not see me
Blaming the weather for your tell
I won I won I won
I won I won I won
I wish you'd wait for me
Falling far, far from me
I push you, you shove me
(I wish you'd wait for me)
I need you, now I see
(Falling far, far from me)
I looked for a way out to
Find you pulling at my skirts somehow
There's nothing here, here to see
Keeping my bloomers on for now
I won I won I won
I won I won I won
I wish you'd wait for me
Falling far, far from me
I push you, you shove me
(I wish you'd wait for me)
I need you, now I see
(Falling far, far from me)

Pulling at My Skirts

I wrote this after getting an A minus in Minimalism. It was not the grade I wanted. Then the cops came.

Aviary (aka  A minus)

I lost my limbs
while you were sleeping
and I couldn't find
where I was to you.
They hid inside
wasn't for safe keeping
stolen arms in line
bending down to you.
I fell in
Wherefore've all my pieces been?
Strung on up, upon your line
Outside
Witness where your folly lies
Twisted up, bound in your mind
Wrapped in time
Never gonna feel your arms bound, wrapped with mine.
I lost my nerve
trustin' only lyin'
painted up so fine
visions real to you.
It broke inside
a whit of what once was
pools of brilliant time
frozen sliced in two.
I fell in
Wherefore've all my pieces been?
Strung on up, upon your line
Outside
Witness where your folly lies
Twisted up, bound in your mind
Wrapped in time
Never never never gonna feel your arms bound, wrapped with mine.


Arms in Line

Burrower- recording, mixing and clarinet by Heidi Harris

Burrower

To listen to more of my collaborative work, go to:
https://soundcloud.com/cutleri
https://soundcloud.com/littlebones
https://soundcloud.com/plasticshores
https://soundcloud.com/the-grind-4/sets/carpe-diem


“Engages with discourses of memory and nostalgia...a relationship to history, and to artistic tradition, is a central factor in the way the music means. Shaffer chooses to employ a well established, ‘folk’ creative lexicon. She combines its signifiers according to a grammar of her own making, however, one of a decidedly modern, culturally self-aware cast. This applies equally to her musical materials, her performances and her lyrical content. She plays mandolin, some violin...and she sings; stylistically, it is clearly located in a folksong tradition, but it’s a curiously mid-Atlantic one. There are obvious elements of Americana, but a lot more than a nod to European sounds, and there is a gleeful affinity for the expressive potential of dissonance (as in the keening ‘Keen’). Her words are mysterious, delicately balanced possibilities of meaning, often clearly yearning in character, but also disturbing (‘I lost my limbs/ while you were sleeping’), and not without humour (‘Keeping my bloomers on for now’). ‘Pinwheel’ applies cut and paste techniques to Shaffer’s materials, in a brief outbreak of experimental folktronica. For me though, the creative highlight is ‘Gnarled’, where a simple, austere, unaccompanied vocal arrangement is shot through with astringent harmonies that remind me of the arresting opening to Rose Kemp’s Golden Shroud (although it’s a lot less mental, unsurprisingly). This is a lovely, thought-provoking set of recordings.”
-Oliver Arditi (www.oliverartditi.com)


"Ms Shaffer is based in Brooklyn/USA and records with mandolins and violins along with nice harmonies. It is the perfect music for rainy days in autumn! If you're listening to her music, you will not think that she is from the USA. The sound is in the tradition of Scandinavian singers and songwriters! Lean back and enjoy!" 
-KALTBLUT Magazine (http://www.kaltblut-magazine.com/)

"Om jag hade fört någon slags geografisk statistik över hamnarna vi besökt är jag ganska säker på att Brooklyn skulle hamna i topp. Den här gången åker vi med på en vegetationstät och akustisk resa, där vindarna från mandolinen och violinen styr farten."
-Skogsgospel (http://skogsgospel.blogspot.com/)

As SoundClouder of the Day, 10/7/11 !!! :
http://www.facebook.com/soundcloud/posts/202913026447241
https://twitter.com/soundcloud/status/122402383560056835
http://soundcloud.tumblr.com/post/11149579423/scotd-jessie-shaffer

Jessie Shaffer

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