Half-Handed Cloud – “Handles”

John Ringhofer is about to return with a new Half-Handed Cloud album. It’s called Flutterama, and it’s out at the end of June.

Ringhofer’s web of influences for Flutterama are, perhaps characteristically, quirky and arcane, so we’ll just give it to you straight from the press release: “Flutterama was mainly inspired by late ’50s/early ’60s pre-synthesizer academic tape music (Henk Badings, Tod Dockstader, İlhan Mimaroğlu, Malcolm Pointon), along with Frances Mary Hunter Gordon’s adolescent liturgies (recorded at Abbey Road during The Beatles era), turbid sights and sounds in Guy Maddin films, R. Stevie Moore’s home-taped pop universe, Alberto Burri’s stitched wound burlap assemblages, Lou Barlow/Dinosaur Jr’s lo-fi “Poledo” sound collage (which name-checks Jesus), Julie Canlis book A Theology Of The Ordinary, Wallace Berman’s visual collage, and the Raincoats’ magnificently shaky D.I.Y. aesthetic.”

Ringhofer used the tape machine and all kinds of old-school manipulations a bunch for Flutterama, eschewing synthesizers because “it felt like cheating.” Instead, he opted to “craft most of the album’s effects the long way.” As a result, Flutterama features 18 songs with everything from chord organs and piano and brass to deflating balloons and tablecloths and music boxes.

Along with the announcement, Ringhofer has shared lead single “Handles.” Listen below.

Asthmatic Kitty is also releasing an unearthed 2002 interview with Ringhofer and Sufjan Stevens, in which they play each other’s songs. You can check that out below too.

Flutterama is out 6/17 via Asthmatic Kitty.