(le) poisson rouge

Renowned singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, hailed by Rolling Stone as, “a literate and ironic neo-folkie with enough bile to win over a younger, hipper audience not attuned to folk music,” recently released his latest album, Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead , via Popover Corps/Rebel Group. In support of the record Harding will be reviving his three-show residency at Le Poisson Rouge on March 25, April 15, and May 20. Part variety show and part concert, the Cabinet of Wonders will draw together collaborators from the worlds of music, literature, comedy and even ventriloquism all hand-picked by Harding himself. “I wanted to bring together my novel writing friends (who mostly envy my musician friends) and my musician friends (who mostly envy my novel writing friends) under one flag,” says Harding. “The fact is: I like everyone who’s performing.”

You can read about their 11/18/09 show at LPR here.

Larry Murphy began performing standup comedy in 1997 at the Comedy Studio in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Soon after, he teamed up with Brendon Small (co-creator, writer, star, and music writer for the Adult Swim series Home Movies & Metalocalypse). Together they performed sketches & Rock Operas until 2001. Murphy's subsequent independent live work is a mix of sketch and characters. He rejects traditional styles in favor of playing with the medium.

Murphy is a voice actor renown for his versatility. He voiced all of the main characters on Assy McGee, (2006-2008) and has lent his voice to several Soup2Nuts animated shows including O'Grady, Home Movies and Word Girl.

Murphy appeared in a number of sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and currently plays the mustached doorman Jay on the Adult Swim live action show Delocated.

He has toured in support of comedian Eugene Mirman and appears on his live album God is a Twelve-Year-Old Boy With Asperger's (2009) providing the voice of Christopher Walken taking a customer service call.

Born and raised in Bergen, Norway, Sondre Lerche was inspired by the music he heard emanating from his older sibling’s bedrooms – be it A-ha, Elvis Costello or classic rock. Inspired, he picked up the guitar at the age of 8, and as a teenager performed at open mics at the club where his sister worked. Before his 16th birthday, he was signed to Virgin/EMI. “I had to start singing to get all these songs out there,” he says. “No one else was going to!

Lerche’s triumphs and travails of the last few years certainly left a mark; he moved to the U.S. and dealt with various practical matters (including some green card issues), forcing some delays. But he also recorded the soundtrack to the hit movie Dan in Real Life (”The director wanted a musician to work with and he convinced both me and the Disney Corporation that I was the only one who could do it.”) And, most importantly, Lerche left his major label home and struck out on his own.

Heartbeat Radio, his most current offering, is certainly Lerche’s boldest and most challenging record. While it maintains the studio polish of his groundbreaking debut, Faces Down, there’s also a sense of musical adventure that stems from his later work. The songs mix acoustic guitars with grand gestures of orchestral pop, with elements of anything from 50s Jazz, via 60s and 70s Brazillian psych-folk to state-of-the-art 80s pop masters such as Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti and Fleetwood Mac.

Although Radio presents a variety of moods and sounds, the opening track “Good Luck” may best describe the story behind the record. “That was inspired by parts of my last year or two,” admits the singer, who went through some drama (good and bad) to get to a finished album. “Sometimes it’s really hard getting the songs to the level of excitement you have, and still defining your everyday life. But in the end, considering how unfair this world often appears, it’s really about how goddamn lucky I am to make a living writing and performing my songs!”

Lerche’s triumphs and travails of the last few years certainly left a mark; he moved to the U.S. and dealt with various practical matters (including some green card issues), forcing some delays. But he also recorded the soundtrack to the hit movie Dan in Real Life (”The director wanted a musician to work with and he convinced both me and the Disney Corporation that I was the only one who could do it.”) And, most importantly, Lerche left his major label home and struck out on his own.

“I had done the major label thing, and I had experienced the pros and cons of that world,” he says. “I thought this time I’d just make the album, and see who was interested when I was finished.” He laughs. “And I didn’t want to go to anyone before I was finished – it seemed disingenuous to say, ‘I don’t have music, but I have these songs in my dreams.’ They probably could care less about my dreams!” Radio was admittedly a slower process than his previous work – Lerche was now handling the production of the album (along with long time guitarist and multi-tasker Kato Adland), and utilizing a large number of backing musicians in the recording, incorporating violinists, cello players and other assorted string players into the mix. Lerche and Ådland were determined to both test out new ways of recording and embrace new influences—most prominently on “Easy to Persuade,” which features the singer opening with the very Nelly-like proclamation “Is it hot in here?” and ending the song with dark “Blade Runner” synths, Disney-meets-This Lizzy arpeggios and a dramatic bebop solo, half Coltrane, half Miami Vice.

“That song was inspired by things I used to hate but now accept,” Lerche says. “As a kid, in the late ‘80s, I remember moving into this building that had MTV – I would just sit there and absorb it. And a couple of things would pop up that I couldn’t stand – one was Fleetwood Mac, songs from “Tango in the Night”, and the other was The Cure, around “Friday I’m in Love”. They both sounded odd to me, yet those songs had a weirdly slick sound. Now, for some reason, I have a real affinity for this kind of sound!”

Fortunately, ’80s pop wasn’t the only musical influence that shaped his musical upbringing. Born and raised in Bergen, Norway, Lerche was inspired by the music he heard emanating from his older sibling’s bedrooms – be it A-ha, Elvis Costello or classic rock. Inspired, he picked up the guitar at the age of 8, and as a teenager performed at open mics at the club where his sister worked. Before his 16th birthday, he was signed to Virgin/EMI. “I had to start singing to get all these songs out there,” he says. “No one else was going to!”

Lerche released his first record, Faces Down, in 2001, and earned a Best New Artist award at the Norwegian Grammys. That record also made its mark here in the U.S.– Rolling Stone named it one of the 50 best records of the year. Two Way Monologue (2004), Duper Sessions (2006) and Phantom Punch (2007) followed, along with a number of EPs and tours with everyone from Elvis Costello to (no joke) A-ha.

With Radio completed, Lerche plans to head back out on the road. But instead of simply recreating the expansive nature of his new songs, most of the sets will be performed solo (another tour with a regular back-up band will happen later in the year). “I like that contrast,” he says. “You get to hear where the songs came from – just one guitar, one voice, like how I do my demos. It’s a fun challenge to try and make it as dynamic and exciting as possible No matter what I do to these songs in the studio, they’ll get by on their own.”

Ben Greenman is an editor at the New Yorker and the author of several acclaimed books of fiction, including Superbad, Superworse, and A Circle is a Balloon and Compass Both: Stories About Human Love. His fiction, essays, and journalism have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Paris Review, Zoetrope: All Story, McSweeneys, and Opium, and he has been widely anthologized.

His current projects include Correspondences, a limited-edition handcrafted letterpress publication created by Hotel St. George Press (due in November 2008) and Please Step Back, a novel published by Melville House (due in April 2009). He is also a regular contributor to the music and psychology blog moistworks.com.

He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.

Rick Moody is an American novelist and short story writer best known for the 1994 novel The Ice Storm, a chronicle of the dissolution of two suburban Connecticut families over Thanksgiving weekend in 1973, which brought widespread acclaim, became a bestseller, and was made into a feature film of the same title.

Nicole Atkins is an American singer-songwriter best known for her work with the band Nicole Atkins & the Sea. Her sound is known for its mix of traditional vocal styles and introspective lyrics. She has been compared to Roy Orbison and singers from the Brill Building era, as well as more contemporary artists like Jenny Lewis. Atkins has called her work "pop-noir."

Composer Daniel Felsenfeld received his bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and went on to Boston’s New England Conservatory, where he received his doctorate in 2001.

Recent commissions the one-act opera The Bloody Chamber for the Boulder Chamber Opera; a 30 minute music theatre work for Sequitur; a resetting of David Bowie’s lyrics to Ziggy Stardust for Real Quiet with Theo Bleckmann; The Poet’s Dream of Herself as a Young Girl for mezzo and piano trio to be performed at Stanford University by Amy Schneider and the Harmida Trio; and All Work and No Play, a work for piccolo and piano. His music can be found on the Endeavor and Koch imprints.

Recent performances include: American Opera Projects, Jenny Lin at Bargemusic, Stephanie Mortimore at Carnegie Hall, the Syracuse Society for New Music, the Boston Modern Orchestra Projects’ Club Concert Series, Hartwell Dance Theatre, the Momenta Quartet, the Either/Or Festival, and the NewGallery Concert Series. His opera The Last of Manhattan was commissioned by (and premiered at) The Kitchen in New York City, and another of his operas, Summer and All it Brings,, was chosen to be part of New York City Opera’s VOX 2004: Showcasing American Composers.

Daniel is also the author of eight books and hundreds of articles. He teaches at City College and lives in Brooklyn.

Leona Naess is an introspective singer/songwriter whose alternative pop-rock draws on influences ranging from Edie Brickell to Joy Division.