The Orchestra, active from 1991 to 1993, was an acoustic trio featuring Ben Connelly on upright bass and Erik "Stumpy" Session on fiddle. Jason Straight joined on drums toward the end. We played clubs around the Twin Cities and had an especially strong following at Macalester College. We toured the Midwest with Jonathan Richman in the fall of 1992 -- it was very kind of him to take us under his wing and show us how to put on a riveting low-volume show.
We released four cassettes in that time. I've recently transferred them from DAT to CD. Here they are for your downloading pleasure:
REVELATIONS (1993)
My favorite. We tackle everything from bluegrass to salsa to Cure-style mope rock, with a lyrical focus on End Times scenarios. The arrangements are really sharp as we'd been playing together long enough to figure out what worked and what didn't in that format.
Panning For Gold Not the breakneck version that got wide airplay with Steeplejack.
That Sting This one turned into a Steeplejack live warhorse as well. Inspired by Prince's "The Beautiful Ones" and Duke Ellington. Stumpy's playing is wicked hot on this one.
A Lonely Guy I'm really proud of this song. The lyrics walk the line between ridiculous and heartfelt and Ben delivers them with hammy aplomb. The song changes keys three times, but not in a way you'd notice. The violin riff was lifted from the grindcore band Carcass.
Fiona Two fake-jazz feels in one song: salsa and swing, providing a setting for two fake emotions: lounge-lizard loucheness and soul ridiculous/earnest lyrics. No, I could never tell when I was being serious either.
Whatcha Gonna Do? I'd been reading a lot of the New Testament during this time, and like many overexcitable Christians got caught up with the book of Revelations. This would have sounded really dumb with electric guitars; by removing the "heavy" hopefully it's not quite as turgid.
Volcano More street-corner bible-thumping. Repent!
Trouble Yes, I was passing out on ladies' doorsteps at this point in my romantic career. Not a great move.
The Evening Redness from the West Ben on guitar, me on banjo, both of us trying our best to ape John Fahey.
SPIN THE BOTTLE (1992)
Our most successful release -- I probably sold 500 copies of this cassette at gigs. Beautifully recorded with gobs of natural reverb by Rob Curtis, it maintains a hushed, late-night mood throughout.
Let's Get Married This version is lifted from analog cassette as it didn't survive the digital transfer. Fortunately, the sheer shamelessness still comes through.
Amazed (Live) I really had a thing for Prince. Sometimes that was a liability.
NEEDLE'S EYE (1991)
This one's pretty sparse, just me on guitar and Ben on electric bass. It's painfully earnest, but the Prince-style falsetto should keep your attention.
The Party's Over (bonus track)