Listen – SeaMuse

We are thrilled to announce our new SeaMuse recording, Solstice Fire. It is available for download at https://seamuse.bandcamp.com.

Here is the title track, “Solstice Fire”

All music and songs are original except Air de Repose and La Dansaoné, which are by Breton guitarist Soïg Sibéril. Solstice Fire lyrics are by Stanley Greenthal, set to music of the song Rebels, composed by Mara Aranda (lyrics) and Efrén López (music), of the Spanish group L’Ham de Foc, from their recording Cançó De Dona I Home. The JanuaryMan is by English songwriter Dave Goulder.

Recording: Christos Govetas
Mixing: Christos Govetas and Stanley Greenthal
Mastering: Evan Schiller
Graphic design: Christos Govetas
Produced by Christos Govetas and SeaMuse

December 21, 2019

1: Pombí Iliostasíou (Solstice Procession)
(by Christos Govetas, © 2019)

Welcome to the new year.

2: Our Earth Island | Grizzly’s Boogie
(music & lyrics by Stanley Greenthal, © 2019)

A song dedicated to Lopez Island in the Salish Sea, and to our larger “Earth Island.”
The tune that follows the song is in honor of Greg Ewert, a friend who passed away after succumbing to a brain tumor. The grizzly was Greg’s “spirit animal,” who accompanied him on his journey to the other side.

So long ago we came to this island
an island rising in the Salish Sea
we made our home on fields and hills
on this island
this Earth Island
anchored to the sea

Time weathers us as rocks eroding
time lays years on our hearts and hands
yet time conceives a timeless Love
for this island
this ancient island
standing in the sea

We praise your wild abundant beauty
still coursing through every season’s change
your many faces never hiding from our gaze
shape-shifting island
eternal island
wedded to the sea

For all who live on this island
upon the earth, in the sea and sky
we hold our future in our hands
our Earth Island
this fragile island
in the Salish Sea

3: Air de Repose | La Dansaoné | Five for Soïg
(by Soïg Sibéril) (by Soïg Sibéril) (by Stanley Greenthal, © 2019)

Air de Repose and La Dansaoné are compositions by acclaimed Breton guitarist Soïg Sibéril, arranged in SeaMuse style. Five for Soïg is Stanley’s composition in 5/16 meter— a musical thank-you to Soïg for his inspiring music over many years.

4: Unbuilding the House
(music & lyrics by Stanley Greenthal, © 2019)

A song looking back on Stanley’s early days building his house on Lopez Island, and then remodeling it many years later.

Unbuilding the house goes quicker, yet thought is slower
holding the blackened hinges I laid in fire years ago
Burned away the galvanizing, and set them perfectly
on the handmade doors I’d made for a cabinet long gone

Chorus:
No one else can unbuild
No one else can unbuild
No one else can unbuild this house but me
No one but me

I’m taking a risk here, my spinning blade, a hidden nail
could ruin my day or put out an eye
Measure twice cut once or don’t cut at all

Good cabinet doors, rough silver cedar
will make nice kindling, a warm winter’s fire

Chorus:
No one else can unbuild
No one else can unbuild
No one else can unbuild this house but me
No one but me

Fine figured patterns, I trace them in the grain
every board held some meaning, so long ago and today
I see a young man standing, a hammer in his hand
He drives it home for truth and beauty,
that young man was me, that young man was me

Chorus:
No one else can unbuild
No one else can unbuild
No one else can unbuild this house but me
That young man was me

Chorus:
No one else can unbuild
No one else can unbuild
No one else can unbuild this house but me
No one but me

5: Voices I Heard
(music & lyrics by Stanley Greenthal, © 2019)

A meditation on memory and the pleasure of life’s experiences, and the love for friends and family. Also a reflection on our world today.

Walking in the woodland alone
following a thread of song going home
I thought of all the people I’ve known
some are here and others gone
I thought of all the people I’ve known

I remembered the sounds I’d heard
wind through the trees, songs of birds
the sound of my breath, voices and words
my friends spoke to me
I remembered the voices I heard

Memories flooding with the tide
pleasures that still abide
pleasures that abide

I recalled the taste of wine
shared with friends in joy and tears
and the Mystery that led us here
so long ago
the taste of joy and tears

I recall the scent of wood smoke fire
stroke of midnight, sharp desire
a vision in the morning light
lying by your side
lying by your side

Memories flowing with the tide
pleasures that still abide
pleasures that abide

Thinking of the World today
suffering comes ten thousand ways
to find a single blade of beauty
can bring you to your knees
a single blade of beauty

Memories flowing with the tide
pleasures that still abide
pleasures that abide

Walking in the woodland alone
following a thread of song coming home
I thought of all the people I’ve known
some are here and others gone
I thought of all the people I’ve known

6: Kalanda
(traditional Greek Thracian)

A traditional Greek Thracian New Year’s song.

7: Snow Geese | Kippie’s Psaltry March
(poem by Kip Greenthal, music by Stanley Greenthal, © 2019)

Many drives through Skagit Valley, Washington, inspired Kip to write this poem. Stanley composed Kippie’s Psaltry March in the style of a three-part Scottish pipe march, to accompany the poem and nudge her to play the bowed psaltery.

Snow Geese

Is it sometimes beautiful
the way our world is warming
I ask myself
driving through Skagit Valley
when all at once a thousand snow geese
land on a cold brown sleeping field

I used to have to travel miles to see
these birds in another place
but now our winter brings them here
far from their northern home
blazing
across our eyes

their great sweep of white unison
descending
their black tipped wings curved
out from inside themselves
so their feet may touch
—light and webbed—
upon our endangered earth

8: Pombí Redux
(by Christos Govetos, arr. Kim Goldov, © 2019)

An improvisational reprise of Christos’s Pombí Iliostasíou, played by Kim on piano.

9: Dans Andro | An Other Andro
(traditional Breton)(by Stanley Greenthal, © 2019)

Dans Andro is a traditional Breton dance tune, learned from an arrangement played by the Breton band Kornog. Stanley’s original, somewhat slow-motion andro completes the set.

10: Eclipse | Mo Run Geal Og
(poem by Kip Greenthal, © 2019, music traditional Scottish)

Kip wrote this poem after seeing a lunar eclipse from the top of a bedrock hill on Lopez Island. Stanley accompanies the poem with Mo Run Geal Og, a traditional Scottish harp tune he learned from Scottish harpist William Jackson. The title, Mo Run Geal Og, may be translated as My Fair Young Love.

Eclipse

Older now
I stand on the cold hill
watching the earth’s dark curve
swallow up the moon’s light
and just when the moon is truly dark
it glows up bright
and coppery
like an agate
I found when I was a child
on the beach
and held it up to the sun
to see if I could see through it,
and I could—
in a blaze of umber light,
and I see that again
in the night sky,
that stone washed up by the sea
and I reach out, young again,
to take the moon in the palm of my hand
and wander around with it
through the universe.

11: Solstice Fire
(lyrics by Stanley Greenthal, © 2019, set to music of the song Rebels, composed by Mara Aranda (lyrics) and Efrén López (music), of the Spanish group L’Ham de Foc, from their recording Cançó De Dona I Home)

Celebrating the winter solstice is an ancient tradition, practiced in many cultures around the world. At the winter solstice, the sun reaches its lowest point in the sky, giving us the longest night and the shortest day of the year. The word solstice comes from the Latin sol stetit, which literally means “sun stands still.” SeaMuse adds its voice to this celebration of light returning.

Wind song calls the night
Stars wheel round, circling light
Gather here at winter’s door
Light the fire, the Old Year burns

Frost cuts through
Fire reveals all
Frost is true
Fire reveals

Chorus:
Circle the Solstice fire
Earth and sky
Dance among shadows
Shaped by firelight
Dance for all that draws us here
This longest night

Tree roots, branches bare
Veins of Earth, sparks in air
Two worlds meet as the year divides
Promise and danger intertwine

Candles glow
Sun returns out of night
Candles glow
Sun reborn

Chorus:
Circle the Solstice fire
Earth and sky
Dance among shadows
Shaped by firelight
Dance for all that holds us here
On Solstice night

SeaMuse’s arrangement of Dave Goulder’s timeless song. Stanley composed a waltz for the January Man to accompany him on his yearly journey through the seasons.

Oh, the January man, he walks the road in woollen coat and boots of leather
The February man still shakes the snow from off his hair and blows his hands
Oh, the man of March he sees the Spring and wonders what the year will bring
And hopes for better weather

Thru April rain the man goes down to watch the birds come in to share the summer
The man of May stands very still watching the children dance away the day
In June the man inside the man is young and wants to lend a hand
And grins at each newcomer

And in July the man in cotton shirt, he sits and thinks on being idle
The August man in thousands takes the road to watch the sea and find the sun
September man is standing near to saddle up and lead the year
And Autumn is his bridle

And the man of new October takes the reins and early frost is on his shoulder
The poor November man sees fire and rain and snow and mist and Winter gale
December man looks through the snow to let eleven brothers know
They’re all a little older

And the January man comes round again in woollen coat and boots of leather
To take another turn and walk along the icy road he knows so well
Oh the January man is here for starting each and every year
Along the road for ever

The first few notes of this 7/16 meter tune may create an uneasy or tentative mood. Members of SeaMuse contributed musical ideas which add to the mystery of the melody as it unfolds.

SeaMuse’s arrangement of Stanley and Kip’s song, first recorded on Stanley’s 1990 release, All Roads.

The title and theme of this love song come from a novel of the same name, written by Kip Greenthal. The term “shoal water” describes a place where water becomes shallow over a bank of land— a dangerous place to be in a small rowboat.

First October leaves, turning gold and silver
From the leaning willow limb that rises and falls
And far and wide, driven from their harbor
Come the grey feathered wings to catch and to call

Yellow is the boat, deep golden yellow
The color of the earth that rides on the sea
Can I row long enough and strong enough
Can I pull the dory through shoal water to you

Leaving windy shores, drifting in the dory
My heart is at my back, in harbor no more
Can I row long enough and strong enough
To bring this gift to you I bear from my home

In the failing light, moving through shoal water
The grey silent rocks that lie under foam
I fear for the boat the waves are breaking over
But I trust in the gift I carry for you

Will you help me, rowing through shoal water
The pearl is in my bow, I am keeping for you
I cannot keep the waves from breaking over
But I’ll pull the dory through shoal water to you

Syrtos (Συρτός) is the name of a group of Greek folk dances of ancient origin. A popular line dance that forms a semi-circle, the syrto is danced by Greek-Americans and folk dancers at festive gatherings. SeaMuse’s collaborative composition adds to this lively dance tradition.

Do you remember having “Snow Days”? Maybe you see the first flakes falling at night. In the morning a blanket of white covers everything outside. You then rush to the radio to see if your school is canceled. In reminiscing about those times in our lives, we also hope and demand that the winters we remember will last for many solstices to come. “Snow Day” is followed by a fiddle tune named for a recent Seattle area “snow week.”

Come on Chucky lets go play.
The radio says no school today.
The gully’s got a foot of snow,
My mom says you and me can go.

Wendy’s got a new red sled.
I’ve got a cap for the snow man’s head.
Life is good in New Jersey
When a snow day comes for you and me.

There’s a white bear cub on the ice in the sea,
She wants to play like you and me.
Will she have a chance to grow?
The frozen world is all they know.

I remember we were little.
Snowballs flying from our hand.
Give me back my icy winter.
Cubs and kids, it’s our demand.

Snow’s been falling night and day,
School is boring anyway.
If it falls a little more, more, more, more,
Let’s meet outside my kitchen door.

A song for the turning of the year and our imperfect world.

Praise for half-finished heaven
Praise for stars at night
Praise for fragmented beauty
That begins the morning’s light

Praise for sunlight breaking
On the shoulder of the hill
Praise for rain at midnight
Deep waters running still

Praise for short distance
Between family and friends
Praise beyond all praising
When there’s no strength to begin

Praise for dreamers waking
From silence and their sleep
Praise for the light fading
Broken promises meant to keep

Praise for what is disappearing
Creatures great and small
Praise for glaciers melting
Shadow forests standing tall

Praise for what is simple
Praise for what you see
And praise for what is hidden
That joins both you and me

Praise for what’s beyond us
At the turning of the year
Praise for the voice of silence
That speaks when we cannot hear

Praise for half-finished heaven
Praise for stars at night
Praise for fragmented beauty
That begins the morning’s light