Video Flyer for our Next Show

R.I.P. Don Van Vliet

a new video of an older song

This was from a secret show/video shoot we did a while back above Holy Frijoles in Baltimore. The song is from "Rites of Uncovering", which came out in 2007. Enjoy.

nice words over at Bmore Music

"It's a perfect example of how this band is able to enforce heavy gloom while at the same time fanning a swift breeze of melody and entrancement."

post here.

Free Download from our new (upcoming) record, "The Gathering"

Hope you all like this new Arbouretum song; it's called "Destroying to Save".

Live video for a new song, "waxing crescents"

Our Next Show

will be Friday, December 3rd at Cameo in Brooklyn, NY.

we are playing with Cliffie Swan (formerly LIGHTS, Drag City Records)

and Up Died Sound.

Arbouretum plays at around 9:30.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Nice words from John Mulvey at Uncut's Wild Mercury Sound

link here

a solo acoustic version of a song from our next record

"When Delivery Comes", a song from the forthcoming LP, The Gathering, which will be released February 2011.

Thanks to everyone that came to our secret show/video shoot last night.

That shit was a lot of fun.

Last Week

Here are some photos taken at last Wednesday's Baltimore show at the Metro Gallery, taken by Valerie Paulsgrove.
An excellent show overall- Pilgrim opened the night and were great, then Caltrop (who I hope will be seeing some wider recognition soon as they really deserve it), then us.
As some of you are aware, Matthew Pierce is out of the country for the next couple months, so for that show we had excellent drummer/percussionist Michael Kuhl sitting in with us, playing a floor tom, various shakers and a cymbal. We ended the set with
"Waxing Crescents", a newer song, and Buck and Mike played a full-on double drum solo at the end.

The following night's New York show at Union Pool in Brooklyn was pretty goddamned epic, if we may say so ourselves.
Caltrop opened, then we played afterward, followed by Endless Boogie.
We opened with a newer arrangement of "Song of the Pearl" and I broke a D string halfway through.
Corey then got a bass loop going and I layered a two-note guitar loop on top of that to play while I was changing the string. We then went into "When Delivery Comes", a song from the new record, and that was the end of the "actual songs" portion of our set.
We then began a version of the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray", a song that was to ultimately last about two hours. Hans Chew from the D.Charles Speer band joined us at this point on keys. We played it for around 30 minutes, allowing the structure to build, dissolve, then come together again, at which point the members of Endless Boogie began replacing us on stage one by one as our set segued into theirs.
Watching them play after we had finished was truly amazing. Those guys are at the top of their game these days, having toured so much in the recent past. Their command of the long-form rock jam is nothing short of extraordinary, and "Sister Ray" is about as appropriate as any song they could cover, being Lower-East-Siders themselves that are prone to, well, boogieing endlessly. I really wish someone had recorded that set, but to my knowledge no one did.

The following evening we were in Philly at the Danger Danger house, a DIY spot on the West side of town. For some reason one of the local bands had canceled and the gig started an hour late. We were upstairs in the green room trying to generate enthusiasm for playing at all, which never really happened. As Caltrop began their set, it became apparent to us that we weren't going to bring the kind of experience we are best at delivering to anyone, not that there was much of anyone present anyway. There was a small handful of people that had mainly been there to see the local opener, and a few people who were friends with Caltrop.
By the time Caltrop finished (we told them to feel free to play as long as they wanted to), there were maybe 4 or 5 people standing around, it was coming up on the venue's midnight curfew, and we were tired and looking forward to being in our own beds asleep. The only person that came out to see us was Meg Baird, and we were having a really good time hanging out with her upstairs watching a mutual acquaintance appear on Letterman with a 90 lb squash he'd grown. The night before had been so incredible anyway that there was really no topping it. Best go out on a high note...
This was the first time we ever chose not to play a gig once we were there, but it's a decision we stand behind. Caltrop had played an excellent set, and for us to go onstage after them and play to 4 or 5 stragglers just didn't seem as much of a viable option to us as simply going home did. An hour and a half later we were back home in Baltimore, unloading the van.

Shows This Week- Baltimore, Brooklyn, Philly

We are pleased to announce three regional shows, all with excellent North Carolina band Caltrop-

Baltimore, Wednesday 10/6- Metro Gallery with Caltrop and Pilgrim

Brooklyn NY, Thursday 10/7 Union Pool with Endless Boogie and Caltrop

Philadelphia, Friday 10/8- Danger Danger with Caltrop, No Extra Tounge, and Dr Scientist

Looking forward to seeing you.

so we have recorded a new record

The fourth proper full-length Arbouretum record is now recorded and mastered. We're expecting it will be released in February...without giving too much away, I can tell you that it is quite epic in nature and has a thick, buzzy, resonant sound. That's all for today...peace.

Arbouretum to open for Roky Erickson

At The Ottobar in Baltimore, November 7. More show news soon!

Coil Sea Record Available for Preorder

Coil Sea, the new improv LP featuring Dave Heumann and Matthew Pierce from Arbouretum, is now available from Thrill Jockey to preorder. It is a limited edition LP that will likely go pretty quickly....check here to read about it, check out some tracks, and preorder it.

Oh, yes- and here's a video advertisement for the record-

Coil Sea advertisement from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

At long last- Song of the Pearl Lyrics

Ok, so I had a link here to our myspace blog where the lyrics are posted, but, as buggy as myspace tends to be, the link didn't work right unless you were at present logged in, and led to some kind of internal server error. So here's the myspace blog post cut&pasted in its entirety, stupid mood status indicator and all.
Saturday, August 07, 2010

Song of the Pearl Lyrics
Current mood: fermented
Category: Music


False Spring (Heumann, Wilson)

come along, we'll ride together
not far to go but it's too far to turn back
voices are calling our names from the top of the hill
we'll raise a glass to appease them all
there, a stark and corroded memoria-
it creases the day into separate noon and night
how streaks of blight mar the long and rolling green

comes the stride of the bold explorer
he made his name sailing 'round the golden horn
"I'll tell you that ashes are never envious-
the first to lose and the last restored"
a deal was struck and the room grew silent
lending its weight to the new misgivings
in air too still to support any fragrances

how did time become so careless?
where, the ivory stairs and the river of pools?
where, the early blooms and the dawning?
it's hard to remember arriving here at all
stranger shapes coalesce in the deepening light
an owl obscures, then steals, the sun
it's colder now than it was some moments ago


Another Hiding Place (Heumann)

on this highway
with the sunlight in my eyes
and the cities gliding by
thoughts are unprotected
there's disorder
with the insides all exposed
and I'm trying to watch the road
and the radio's playing

last night found me
with a woman in her bed
who was new to me instead
of the one who's waiting
I slid softly
into warmth and amnesia
derelict and drunken
softly overtaken

O from here to nowhere to go
better find another hiding place
I can't find no worries sometimes
when I get a feeling I can face

now it's broken
and a foreign afterglow
fills the skies with what is known
and what is kept hidden
I'll discard it
and the rest I'll disavow
I'll disguise myself somehow
right out in the open

daylight blazes
there's a carcass on the side
of the road and still I ride
as the high birds circle
my mind's wandering
as so oftentimes it does
with the cirrus clouds above
and the miles I've covered




Down by the Fall Line (Heumann, Varsalone)

the leaves are waving the sun down
they're whispering that it won't be long
O I can see the peidmont
cascading to the fall line

there is a watchman on the moon
and lies are here and liars too
but they won't ever find us
if we keep ourselves apart

the wolves were driven from the town
but in the leaves they're still around
O I can see their yellow eyes
past the edges of the fire's glow

tonight I hold her fast and slow
and tell her things that can't be known
I'll wait until she falls asleep
and go outside to watch the black




Song of the Pearl (Heumann, Wilson)

nights were spent waiting for days
back in the brown times
and there in the rising midwinter's sun
was abraham's ram caught in the thicket
and what appeared
was told in turbulence on the water
when she was near
there could be no home apart from this
but now its gone, long gone-
when I look out across a clearing
it is obscured

out on an ocean dark and vast
two fishes tied, at alpha are bound
waving a pole and waking the dead
the goatherder turned the shining stars
and so turned she,
and there awoke a staring eye
but not a mouth-
I'd become as passerby
O in a world long gone
she waits, she waits for me
horizons sing

I saw her last
in a hazy, dark, and crowded room
stramlined and fast
shameless with everyone
and when the last song's playing
here she comes, carring a pitcher
to fill the flood



Thin Dominion (Heumann)

here comes a wave big as a building
there goes the firm unyielding ground
and I won't, believe I won't fall headlong- that would be
ill advised and pernicious

last night, the ceiling cracked and spidered
and sleep did not befriend me
I suppose that anyway it's best in darkened rooms
left to spies, and in secret

just need a bloom, a fire and no grief
gonna bring 'em back, right back to you
and the end, the losing end, won't find me anywhere
in the gales I'll not weaken

you were apart, but not away long
I sought you out at midnight
there are those who seem oppposed to opening chamber doors
I am one of a different order



Infinite Corridors (Heumann)

garrolous laughter echoes through the streets and recedes
headlights glare brightly, then pass, as the wet pavement gleams
but no one is calling for you, all those voices are gone
a humming, reverberant sound fills your head with new song

the foot of the mountain looks up to a perilous climb
(with) symbols engraved in the air of an alien sky
here, there is no loneliness, no reflections allowed
and no one to cover your form and its nakedness now

morning breaks in at right angles, with edges and seams
the cloud forests vanishing now, all these shapes from a dream
the world of the wide open eye doesn't offer a thing
but newspapers stacked to a ceiling where dim cobwebs cling



The Midnight Cry (Heumann, Wilson)

time was short, and with autumn coming on
William watched for word and searched the skies
watched for word and searched the skies
and a million pairs of eyes
waited for the darkening of day

soon we'll sing, and if not we'll watch and pray
surely '43 or '44
'43 or '44, but not a moment more
he will come and take us to the throne

one more day, and one more night
then he's gonna come in on the clouds
gonna come in on the clouds
and every head will bow
lit with power and great glory

now it's late and the hour's come and gone
William hung his head and heaved a sigh
hung his head and heaved a sigh
then out went the midnight cry
his broken hearted flock just walked away.


"tomorrow is a long time" is a Bob Dylan song and has been published elsewhere,
so it was not included here.
Currently listening:
Song of the Pearl
By Arbouretum
Release date: 2009-03-10
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This Past Friday

Buck, Corey, and I were on our way to the Cakeshop in Manhattan for a show with a friend of ours' band, sitting in Holland Tunnel traffic. The temperature was in the mid to upper 90's, and with no air conditioning in Buck's van, we were reduced to manually oscillating a small-ish clip fan, which was designed to oscillate, but had lost that function several hours before.
I was sitting shotgun, and with the window open I heard a man's voice calling from my right.
"Hey, you've got a leak there".
At this point, traffic was completely stopped and I got out for a look. The fluid was dark red and gushing. Transmission fluid- not good. We were about 500 feet from the mouth of the tunnel and there was only one turn-off point left before the toll booth. Somehow we managed to signal to the drivers on our right to let us through and the van limped its way in to the parking lot of the Holland Motor Lodge, an aged but otherwise nondescript-looking brick hotel whose lot was continuous with that of the Burger King to its right.
We sat outside in the heat as winds gathered and the sky darkened, making phone calls and just generally trying to figure out what to do. The transmission had completely cracked open and there was basically no hope of fixing it that would have been worth the money or effort. I was on hold with AAA to try and get a free tow to the gig when Buck told us he'd found a guy with a van that could pick up us and our equipment and take us there. Not free, but if we'd have sat around and waited two hours for the AAA guy, there was a good chance we would miss our set. I hung up. Still, the guy coming to get us lived in Williamsburg and Friday night traffic was heavy, so we were going to be waiting a while.
I went over to the Burger King and got cokes for everyone. Leaves, dust, and bits of paper blew over the concrete and opaque purple clouds drew closer. After a few minutes of this, thunder cracked and heralded a ferocious downpour and we were back in the van, using the last of its battery to power the non-oscillating oscillating clip fan as we watched through the rain for approaching headlights.

Waking the Naga

Here's a video I made for a project I put together that has a record coming out next month. The band (Coil Sea) is Michael Kuhl, Michael Lowry, Matt Pierce, Walker Teret, Jimmy Clay Wallace, and myself. Enjoy.

Coil Sea - Waking the Naga from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

This Weekend and Next Week

Haven't written here in a while. We actually have a fairly big and action-packed week coming up. Tonight (fri 2nd) we are heading down to Ocean City Maryland to mess around by the water and to get ready for a show we have there tomorrow. We're playing at Pepper's Tavern, right at 16th street and the boardwalk. Being that it's the 4th of July weekend and 16th street is known as "the party block", we expect nothing less than absolute insanity. We're sharing the bill (on the two that follow later in the week) with This Frontier Needs Heroes, a duo from Brooklyn NY who are really good friends of ours. They are a great time to watch and to hang out with. That's why they're coming.

Wednesday night finds us in Wilmington NC at Reggie's 42nd Street Tavern, and Thursday we will be at the Tin Roof in Charleston.
This trip is going to be awesome- things are gonna get wild, it's going to be very hot, we're all going swimming, and we're going to film it all. Hope you can make it.

New Release of Live Recording

We were selling this on tour as a limited-edition CDR called "Sister Ray", as it's based on the Velvet Underground song of the same name.
Aural Slate, the label subsidiary of auralstates.com, is also selling it as a digital release.
In a nutshell, it's a 53 minute jam that was recorded live at a party at a loft space in Baltimore called Granfalloon. We were invited to play and thought we'd do something different than just perform our songs. It was a pretty amazing experience to do the gig, actually. It would have been completely adequate, from our perspective, if the gig HADN'T been recorded, as the whole point for us was to challenge ourselves by jamming for nearly an hour and not bore everyone in the process. But there right in front of us was David Carter with his recording gear. When we listened back to it later, we were more than satisfied with both our performance and the recording quality, and figured that, what with the May tour approaching, it would be a great opportunity to have something new at the merch table. A friend of mine that I grew up with, R.A. Monaco, did the collage work that we used as cover art. You can buy the $5 download HERE.

Shows, Updates

So there are some new things fast approaching-

A project featuring myself and fellow Arbouretum player Matthew Pierce will have our first (and perhaps only) show at the Windup Space in Baltimore on Saturday, May 8th. We have finished a record, and the project is called Coil Sea- it is instrumental improv project. It has also been known as Dragoons, although that name was in use so we had to change it.

The lineup at the show-
David Bergander- drums
Michael Kuhl- percussion
David Heumann- guitar
Matthew Pierce- keys
Walker Teret- bass
Jimmy Wallace- guitar

also playing at the show is Barbez and Susan Alcorn.

And on May 12, our Spring Tour with Pontiak starts!
At the merch table, we will have reissued Song of the Pearl LPs, out of print Rites of Uncovering LPs (while supplies last), an incredible live performance tour CDR we really have to hustle to get done in time, probably some new shirts, and some other stuff.

Please check out our tour dates here!

Shows This Week

We'll be playing two shows this week with our new lineup, which is Corey, Buck Carey, and Matthew Pierce, and myself.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10-

At the Golden West in Baltimore with Scout Niblett and Sri Aurobindo.
Show starts at 10, and there is a good chance it will sell out- getting there early is recommended.

THURSDAY, MARCH 11-

At The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn with Iran (a Kyp Malone project).
I hear great things about the new Knit and we're excited to be playing it.

A live review plus free downloads of our most recent show at Bmore Music

Find it here.