Following in the style of her first two Nonesuch releases, the self-titled debut (1990) and Rockabye (1992), Holcomb’s forthcoming album The Big Time, features songs that evoke a kind of quiet spiritual reverie, creating an atmospheric musical world reflective of her diverse musical influences. Produced by Wayne Horvitz, the house band for The Big Time is Zony Mash plus guitarist Bill Frisell. Zony Mash is Keith Lowe (Fiona Apple, David Sylvian, G-Love) on bass, Timothy Young (David Sylvian) on guitar, drummer Andy Roth and Wayne Horvitz on Hammond Organ. Special guests include Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Julie Wolf (Ani DeFranco Band), Doug Wieselman (Lounge Lizards, Victoria Williams), Danny Barnes (The Bad Livers) and violist Eyvind Kang (Secret Chiefs, John Zorn, Beck).
Other current projects include writing for the Bebe Miller Dance Company and the Joe Goode Performance Group. Her song “Deliver Me” was recently used as part of the Paul Taylor Dance Company’s performance of “Oz”.
Holcomb’s most recent Nonesuch release, Little Three (1996), primarily an instrumental album showcasing her spare compositional style, was called “sensitive, descriptive, adventuresome and full of soul” by The Washington Post. Holcomb’s Nonesuch releases to date have made her a favorite among the music press. Her work has been called “remarkable” (CMJ), “stunning” (Option), “entrancing” (Billboard), and “an essential respite from the raft of female singer/songwriters currently clogging record stores” (Philadelphia Inquirer).
During the 1980s, as a writer and pianist in New York’s experimental music scene, she co-founded Studio Henry, a performance outlet where she gave poetry readings and concerts. Two Sound Aspects recordings from the 1980s (“Larks They Crazy” and “Todos Santos”) feature her instrumental writing, and two more recent recordings on New World include big band works written for the ensemble the New York Composers Orchestra, which she co-founded with Wayne Horvitz, to whom she is married.
It was in her musical theater work, “Angels at the Four Corners,” that the seeds for Holcomb’s debut as a singer/songwriter were sown. Premiered in 1989 as part of New Music America, it combined storytelling with song, and Holcomb shared in the singing. Some of this material was included on her 1990 self-titled Nonesuch debut album, which received critical praise and a spot on the 1991 “Pazz & Jop Poll” of the Village Voice, which called Holcomb’s work “as literate as singer-songwriting gets.”
With interests in folk music that emerged during her childhood in Georgia and the mountains of California, Holcomb expanded her musical vocabulary studying ethnomusicology and composition at U.C. Santa Cruz. Her musical influences, ranging from Randy Newman to The Band to Cecil Taylor to the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and the Appalachian flavor of some of her work also comes from her stint as a sharecropper in rural North Carolina. The artists she has collaborated with recently, ranging from from guitarists Peter Holsapple (dBs, REM) and Bill Frisell to Gospel vocalist Jevetta Steele and saxophonist Doug Wieselman, reflect her ability to blend musical genres, fluidly incorporating both classical, jazz, and folk styles. The resulting rhythmic and melodic quality of Holcomb’s music is at once ethereal, literate and evocative.
Waltz
Robin Holcomb Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When you describe the town
How near it lays
To where you were born
How flat the sky
Covers all sleeping things
As dreamers we often see
Remember the light
That shines beneath doorways
How birds hang motionless
Beating their wings
And the words that are offered
Repeated, suspended
Between the new man
New woman
And all living things
Mention the weather
When you describe the town
How near it lays
To where you were born
How flat the sky
Covers all sleeping things
As dreamers we often see
Glory
Remember the light
That shines beneath doorways
How birds hang motionless
Beating their wings
And the words that are offered
Repeated, suspended
Between the new man
New woman
And all living things
The song "Waltz in 2-3" by Robin Holcomb begins with a suggestion to "mention the weather" when describing a town and its proximity to one's place of birth. This could be interpreted as a way to anchor oneself in space and time, using the tangible and ever-changing weather patterns as a point of reference. The weather can also set the mood and atmosphere of a place, affecting how one experiences and remembers it.
The next line, "How flat the sky covers all sleeping things," creates an image of a town nestled under an expansive sky. The sky, like the weather, is always shifting and can evoke different moods and emotions. The mention of "sleeping things" implies a certain stillness or quietness, as if the town is in a state of suspension.
The song then turns to the theme of dreaming, with the line "As dreamers we often see glory." Dreams can offer glimpses into the subconscious and offer a sense of transcendence or otherworldliness, which may also be reflected in how one sees and remembers a place.
The next stanza repeats the earlier imagery of "the light that shines beneath doorways" and "birds hanging motionless, beating their wings." These moments of stillness and movement, light and shadow, create a sense of magic and wonder.
The song ends with a repetition of the opening lines, emphasizing the importance of remembering the details of one's past and grounding oneself in a sense of place.
Overall, "Waltz in 2-3" is a meditative reflection on memory, place, and the fleeting beauty of everyday moments.
Line by Line Meaning
Mention the weather
Begin describing the town by mentioning the weather
When you describe the town
Describe the town in detail
How near it lays
Highlight the proximity of the town to where you were born
To where you were born
Refer to the place of your birth
How flat the sky
Emphasize the vastness of the sky
Covers all sleeping things
Describe how the sky looks like a blanket covering all sleeping things
As dreamers we often see
As dreamers, we often see the world around us from a different perspective
Glory
Describe the view or perspective as full of glory
Remember the light
Recall the light shining beneath doorways
That shines beneath doorways
Illuminate the beauty of light beneath doorways
How birds hang motionless
Describe the way birds hang motionless in the air
Beating their wings
Despite hanging motionless, the birds beat their wings frantically
And the words that are offered
Refer to the words being spoken
Repeated, suspended
Emphasize the repetition and the hanging in the air of the words being spoken
Between the new man
Among the newly grown up individuals
New woman
And newly grown up individuals of the female gender
And all living things
And the surroundings including all living things
Contributed by Sydney I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.