Embersong - Banjo Apocalypse Crinoline Troubadours' First Video

Last year, Rose Lemberg invited CSE Cooney, Caitlyn Paxson and myself — in our capacity as the Banjo Apocalypse Crinoline Troubadours — to write a song for her Kickstarted anthology, An Alphabet of Embers. We did so — and in May, we got together in Westerly, RI to frolic in a public park while wearing attractive fripperies.

We had a lot of fun, often laughing helplessly while trying to look So Serious. The outtakes of this, should they ever surface, will be uproarious.

(They will never, ever surface.)

What was really cool about doing this video is that what we ended up with, vague-narrative-wise, was the reverse of what we thought we were doing: we didn’t have a solid story in mind, but tried to think of stuff that might look interesting or narrative-sparking in the vicinity of this park. So, ENORMOUSLY CHARISMATIC TREE STUMP, yes! Passing masks back and forth, absolutely! Grasping at straws in terms of making a visual story cohere with the song, MOST DEFINITELY! But somehow Magill Foote took our shaky camera phone footage and wizarded it into something I actually enjoy watching and listening to.

So here, for you, is the Banjo Apocalypse Crinoline Troubadours‘ first ever video offering, of an as-yet never-performed song. Caitlyn’s playing the harp arrangement she composed; melody and lyrics are by me; Caitlyn and I are singing. The crow mask belongs to Jessica Wick, who, along with Betsie Withey, did the actual filming and occasional directing of our shenanigans.

Really hoping we’ll get to do this together at a con sometime.

#SFWApro