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FOLKLORE:
2019 - present
Folklore disappeared for nearly a decade
before reemerging for some live shows starting in 2019. Around
that time, members of the band started working together long distance
to lock down the tracks on a batch of new recordings that would become
The Curse EP. On this album, Folklore mythologizes those acute summer psychologies of longing that make the difficult and peculiar moments of childhood seem grandiose. The characters of each song find themselves stuck not only in time but in their own small towns, in the centripetal forces of family and relationship dynamics, and in the limitations of their own expectations and imaginations. Aesthetically, the album intentionally plays with the tensions between order and chaos, and between sweet, playful melodies and discordant asides. The expansive palette of the ever-evolving Folklore micro-orchestra provides a range of instrumentation that investigates and reinforces these tensions in a way that shows that they follow their own advice: “If you’re bored now, don’t be bored forever.”
The players returning to work on this record come from the original Athens and Philadelphia band rosters with Jimmy Hughes, David Specht, Che-Na Stephenson, Raoul De La Cruz, Jason Henn, and Scott Churchman all contributing while also introducing to the mix the talents of Rob Fields and songwriter Steve Fitzpatrick, who also wrote two of the songs on the album. The band plans to continue recording more music with another EP already in the works and an invite sent out to all members of Folklore's past to return to the fold whenever they are ready.
FOLKLORE:
2005 - 2013
In 2005, Jimmy started writing the
Folklore songs as an outlet for unfinished fiction, a collection of
connected stories written as songs rather than prose. From this
experimental project the Athens GA band was born and performed and recorded
the first two records: Jon Croxton (drums / guitar), Aaron Jollay
(bass / trombone), Ian Rickert (bass / clarinet / harmonica), Che-Na Stephens
(clarinet), Raoul De La Cruz (trumpet), and David Specht (oscillator
/
violin / bells)
Folklore formed as a mini-orchestra of players led
by Jimmy Hughes. A veteran to the Athens music scene where he
played with the likes of Elf Power and Vic Chesnutt, Hughes
took the songwriter role when he formed Folklore in 2005 to create two
conceptual albums: The Ghost Of H.W. Beaverman (2007) and
Carpenter’s Falls (2008). Both based around a
grandiose tale with different vocalists cast to sing each song, these
albums offer splendid melodies at every turn
with clarinets, strings,
trumpet, didgeridoo, and more forming
the backdrop to songs that critics called poignant, provocative,
heartbreaking, and haunting.
ATHENS BAND PIC click here
In 2009, Jimmy relocated to
Philadelphia PA where he managed to find eight people who wanted to
continue playing as Folklore, and within months of moving there, the
band was already playing regular club shows and house shows. So
what would have most likely faded into a lost bedroom project became a
stronger than ever live band in Philadelphia: Jason Henn (drums),
Chad
Arnett (guitar), Scott Churchman (bass), Avalon Clare (clarinet),
Yianni Kourmadas (bass clarinet), Cheryl Nguyen (violin),
Andrew Keller
(viola), Jordan Burgis (guitar)
PHILADELPHIA BAND PIC click here
Folklore's next offering
Home Church Road (2011) presented 13
songs telling the epic story of a future Earth after human extinction
and
features performances by all of the Athens cast as well as the
Philadelphia players.
In this story, only a few species of mammals, birds, lizards, and bugs
remain. They peacefully coexist on Earth until the day they
discover, alive but buried in the ground, a human priest. This is
Loki. Loki is a shape-shifter and his friendly manipulations and
seductions will ensure the rebirth of the large carnivorous beasts and
dinosaurs that once roamed the Earth.
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