Philadelphia instrumental outfit Hour have unveiled ‘Easy the Work’, the title track from their forthcoming album, which is due April 12 via Dear Life Records. Check out a visual for it below.
“‘Ease the Work’ came from listening to a lot of Bach, along with Robert Wyatt’s ‘Gharbzadegi’ on repeat,” bandleader Cormier-O’Leary explained in a statement. “I’d also been listening to Gordon Bok, Anne Mayo Muir, and Ed Trickett, folk singers from Maine who made a number of recordings together that I treasure. The name ‘Ease the Work’ comes from the song ‘And So Will We Yet’, which is an interpretation of an old Scottish ballad called ‘And Sae Will We Yet’.”
“In Bok’s version, he changes the line ‘And we’ve lippen’d aye to Providence, and sae will we yet’ to ‘And we eased the work of Providence, and so will we yet,'” Cormier-O’Leary continued. “It’s a beautiful translation and an evocative sentiment. Fate is inevitable, but we can choose acceptance over resistance. The cello solo at the end of the song embodies a compositional strategy I employed throughout the album, which involves having melodic lines slowly reaching for something it never quite reaches.”
