Cuckoo Chaos
Home Recordings, Demos, and Rarities
Lefse Records
Street: 12.18.12
Cuckoo Chaos = M. Ward + Micah P. Hinson + Here We Go Magic
This is one of the best demos and rarities compilations that I have heard. Usually rarities albums are choppy and inconsistent, with each song being recorded at a different time, and there are usually some pretty shitty songs. This feels like a cohesive album with a central theme, but that isn’t to say there aren’t slight variances. “No She Dunton” has an almost flamenco, crooning feel to it, while “The Ballad of What Was” is pretty reminiscent of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, but with a much more sparse intimacy. With its minimalistic instrumentation and lulling sense of sadness, “Letter #3” sounds like something out of a Wes Anderson movie. The jangly piano ballad “Me and Ewe,” while not typical instrumentally (most songs are lo-fi acoustic) epitomizes the sentiment of the album: listless, hopeful, with a longing for the cutesy sentimentality that most people call love.  This was apparently released to help raise funds for an actual album, but I say fuck it, record more songs like this. –Cody Hudson