Get all 12 Jesse Blake Rundle releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Artifacts of Water EP (Deluxe Version), Next Town's Trees, Angels we have heard, It's Gold Outside, Henceforth, Radishes and Flowers, The Death of a Soldier (single), Radishes and Flowers (single), and 4 more.
1. |
Nomad Exquisite
03:34
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "NOMAD EXQUISITE" BY WALLACE STEVENS
As the immense dew of Florida
Brings forth
The big-finned palm
And the 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,
And lightning colors
So, in me, come flinging
Forms, flames, and the flakes of flames.
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2. |
Captain Profundo
03:37
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "THE REVOLUTIONISTS STOP FOR ORANGEADE" BY WALLACE STEVENS
Captain profundo, captain geloso,
Ask us not to sing standing in the sun,
There is no pith in music
Except in something false.
Bellissimo, pomposo,
Sing a song of serpent-kin,
Necks among the thousand leaves,
Tongues around the fruit.
Sing in clownish boots
Strapped and buckled bright.
Wear a helmet without reason,
Tufted, tilted, twirled, and twisted.
Start the singing in a voice
Rougher than a grinding shale.
Hang a feather by your eye,
Nod and look a little sly.
This must be the vent of pity,
Deeper than a truer ditty
Of the real that wrenches,
Of the quick that’s wry.
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3. |
Life is Motion
03:15
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "LIFE IS MOTION" BY WALLACE STEVENS
In Oklahoma,
Bonnie and Josie,
Dressed in calico,
They danced around a stump.
They cried,
"Ohoyaho,
Ohoo"...
Celebrating the marriage
Of the flesh
Of the flesh and air.
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4. |
Susanna
03:43
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In the green water, clear and warm,
Susanna lay.
She searched
The touch of springs,
And found
Concealed imaginings.
She sighed,
For so much melody.
Upon the bank, she stood
In the cool
Of spent emotions.
She felt, among the leaves,
The dew
Of old devotions.
She walked upon the grass,
Still quavering.
The winds were like her maids,
On timid feet,
Fetching her woven scarves,
Yet wavering.
A breath upon her hand
Muted the night.
She turned—
A cymbal crashed,
And roaring horns.
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5. |
Beauty is Momentary
04:42
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "PETER QUINCE AT THE CLAVIER" BY WALLACE STEVENS
Soon, with a noise like tambourines,
Came her attendant Byzantines.
They wondered why Susanna cried
Against the elders by her side;
And as they whispered, the refrain
Was like a willow swept by rain.
Anon, their lamps' uplifted flame
Revealed Susanna and her shame.
And then, the simpering Byzantines
Fled, with a noise like tambourines.
Beauty is momentary in the mind—
The fitful tracing of a portal;
But in the flesh it is immortal.
The body dies; the body's beauty lives.
So evenings die, in their green going,
A wave, interminably flowing.
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6. |
Nuances
03:22
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "NUANCES OF A THEME BY WILLIAMS" BY WALLACE STEVENS
It’s a strange courage
you give me, ancient star:
Shine alone in the sunrise
toward which you lend no part.
Shine alone, shine nakedly, shine like bronze,
that reflects not me, nor any inner part
of my being, shine like fire,
that mirrors nothing.
Lend no part to humanity that suffuses
you in its own light.
Be not chimera of morning,
Half-man, half-star.
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7. |
Earthy Anecdote
03:46
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "EARTHY ANECDOTE" BY WALLACE STEVENS
Every time the bucks went clattering
Over Oklahoma
A firecat bristled in the way.
Wherever they went,
They went clattering,
Until they swerved,
In a swift, circular line,
To the right,
Because of the firecat.
Or until they swerved,
In a swift, circular line,
To the left,
Because of the firecat.
The bucks clattered.
The firecat went leaping,
To the right, to the left,
And
Bristled in the way.
Later, the firecat closed his bright eyes
And slept.
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8. |
The Emperor of Ice-Cream
03:45
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "THE EMPEROR OF ICE-CREAM" BY WALLACE STEVENS
Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the girls dawdle in such dress
And let the boys bring flowers in old news.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
And if her feet protrude, they show
How cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.
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9. |
The Snow Man
03:44
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "THE SNOW MAN" BY WALLACE STEVENS
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers,
And the spruces rough in the distance
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For him, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
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10. |
The Death of a Soldier
04:06
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "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.
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11. |
Interlude
00:27
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12. |
Radishes and Flowers
03:54
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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 altars,
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.
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13. |
To the Roaring Wind
04:22
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ADAPTED FROM THE POEM "TO THE ROARING WIND" BY WALLACE STEVENS
What syllable are you seeking,
Vocalissimus,
In the distances of sleep?
Speak it.
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Jesse Blake Rundle Boise, Idaho
I make folk music and score films in Boise, Idaho. I've released two albums, an EP and some singles. More music is always on the way.
Jesse Blake Rundle recommends:
He creates scenes with stories, song structure, and production like no one else.
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I can listen to this on repeat forever. A hidden gem that's both meditative and intense.
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Such great tunes and lyrics here from a fellow Idahoan. The songs sound familiar but there's always a unique touch that brings them to life.
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