Philadelphia instrumental band Hour has unveiled “Easy the Work,” the lead single from their upcoming album, which is scheduled for release April 12 via Dear Life Records. Check out a visual of that below.
“‘Ease the Work’ came from listening to a lot of Bach’s works, along with Robert Wyatt’s ‘Gharbzadegi’ on repeat,” bandleader Cormier O’Leary explained in a statement. “I was also listening to Gordon Bock, Anne Mayo Muir, and Ed Trickett, folk singers from Maine who made a number of recordings together that I cherish. The name 'Ease the Work' comes from the song 'And So Will We Yet,' which is a translation of To an old Scottish song called “And Sae Will We Yet”.
“In Bock’s version, he changed the phrase ‘We have welcomed Providence, and we will do so yet’ to ‘And we have softened the work of Providence, and we will do so yet,’” Cormier O’Leary continued. “It's a beautiful, evocative interpretation. Fate is inevitable, but we can choose to accept rather than resist.” The cello solo at the end of the song embodies a compositional strategy she used throughout the album, which involves having melodic lines that slowly reach something they never quite reach.
