HORSE FEATHERS
TEXT: Lydia Sprague ||| PHOTO: Tarina Westlund
Portland band Horse Feathers can hold captive a packed audience at Seattle’s Tractor Tavern for an entire 50-minute set. This is a big feat for any band, but especially one that plays soft, wispy music with no drummer. Additionally, a previous performer that evening left the stage in protest because the crowd would not quiet down. This may say more about the band’s music than any review.
The band plays quiet folk music and utilizes a huge arsenal of instruments, including the cello, violin, banjo, musical saw, mandolin and the harmonium. It draws comparisons to spring, in that the music seems to warm the frost of singer Justin Ringle’s chilly lyrics. An example of those lyrics, from “Heaven’s No Place:” “Dear lonely man the reason you are stunned, You’re born to a town that always eats it’s young. With a pious patience please wait for that wife By winter’s end you may come back to life.”
Some reviewers have said that although Horse Feathers does feature vocals, its music is more instrumental because Ringle’s voice is integrated so well it sounds like another instrument.
Horse Feathers was formed in 2004 in Portland. It began as a project by singer/songwriter Ringle, who moved to Portland from Idaho and began performing solo under the name Horse Feathers. He played acoustic sets at open mics. He eventually enlisted other musicians to join him, and recorded a debut album in 2006 titled Words Are Dead.
Horse Feathers’ roster of musicians is fluid; it has changed over the years, but never changed the dynamics of the music. In 2007 Heather Broderick began playing cello with the band. In that same year the group returned to the studio to record a second album titled House With No Home. The band’s third album, Thistled Spring, was released in April of 2010.
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PRESS
“There’s real movement here, as the many parts that make up the arrangements push and pull with one another instead of simply congealing. Album standout "Belly of June" swoops and dives in a major key, while the thrushing yawns of "The Drought" and the urgency of "Veronia Blues" render a drummer’s presence (something Horse Feathers don’t have) irrelevant.” —Pitchfork
“The band’s debut album for Kill Rock Stars, House with No Home, finds Ringle and company delivering spare acoustic numbers accented by such rural signifiers as banjo, fiddle, and saw (as well as the more urbane cello, celeste, and, of course, guitar). But the focal point is always Ringle’s whisper-quiet, feather-soft voice, which ranges from a low singing tone to a wounded whimper to an airy falsetto.” —The Stranger
“Horse Feathers members understand with clarity how much richer Thistled Spring is for its darker shading; how even a season of renewal has its thorny and disagreeable side. Let Ringle’s softly weary voice drift by without latching on, and this is the most agreeably pretty song to float along in ages. Let his words sink in, and it’s enough to chill the blood and warm the heart at the exact same time.” —NPR 
Read the Groovemine review of Thistled Spring
TOUR
Sep 12, 2010 • Summerset • End of the Road Festival
Sep 13, 2010 • Brighton • Freebutt
Sep 14, 2010 • Cardiff • 10 Feet Tall
Sep 15, 2010 • Oxford • Jericho
Sep 16, 2010 • London • The Luminaire
Sep 17, 2010 • Tilburg • Incubate Festival
Sep 18, 2010 • Utrecht • Tivoli De Helling
Sep 19, 2010 • Gent • Vooruit
Sep 21, 2010 • Cologne • Gebäude 9
Sep 22, 2010 • Münster • Gleis 22
Sep 23, 2010 • Berlin • Comet
Sep 24, 2010 • Hamburg • Reeperbahn Festival
Sep 25, 2010 • Schorndorf • Manufaktur
Sep 27, 2010 • Munich • Ampere
Sep 28, 2010 • Milan • House Concert
Sep 29, 2010 • Zagreb • Kset
Sep 30, 2010 • Vienna • Rhiz
Oct 06, 2010 • Frankfurt • Das Bett
LINKS
+ Official Website
+ Horse Feathers on Facebook
+ Horse Feathers on Myspace
MP3s
“Belly of June” from Thistled Spring
“Curs In The Weeds” from House With No Home
Horse Feathers | Belly Of June | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.
