MP3 Rice Cakes from the Moon - FOLK: Folk Pop

Kiki and Greg blend two unique voices, two poetic perspectives, and two musical visions into the union of sound and soul that has come to be known as dancing Light.

12 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk Pop, FOLK: Modern Folk



Details:
In parts of Asia, moon-viewing celebrations are held during the fall harvest. Shadows on the moon conjure an image of a rabbit making rice cakes in a mortar and pestle. Pampas grass sways in the silver light and moon-shaped rice cakes are offered as a symbol of the abundance of autumn.

Singer/songwriters Kiki Carter Webb and Greg Webb embark on a personal journey in their sophomore CD, Rice Cakes from the Moon. With ten original songs and a cover of Leonard Cohen's Suzanne, they offer their songs, like rice cakes, as symbols of gratitude for the abundance in their lives.

"This really is a remarkable time of harvest for us," says Kiki, who has been writing songs since the age of five. "I spent a good part of my youth, writing songs to please others - now I write to please myself...my relationship with the Muse has taken a front seat. Mostly I just try to get out of the way of the music coming through," comments Kiki.

Greg agrees, "Songwriting and composing on guitar has always been a place I go to process feelings and experiences in a way that brings me to a place of single-mindedness. A place of oneness with the Great Mystery."

The album starts with the title song, Rice Cakes from the Moon. Kiki describes the abundance of their organic garden on the shores of Trader's Bay in northern Minnesota. On it's heels comes, "It All Comes Clear," featuring Greg's incomparable baritone voice and unusual guitar stylings.

"Wings of Song" was written by Greg in response to the synchronicity of Kiki and Greg's first true musical meeting. Greg brought the freshly written song to Kiki a few days later and Kiki recorded it. Kiki responded by writing a duet part to the song and gifting back to Greg. Wings of Song became the catalyst for Kiki and Greg's musical collaboration. This recording of "Wings of Song"

The fourth song on the CD, "Jingle Dancer" was re-recoded for the Rice Cakes CD, including the sounds of an authentic jingle dress that was gifted to Kiki. Bass player, Jan Lundsten adds an earthy bottom to a song Kiki penned about the magic and mystery of jingle dancers at an Ojibwe powwow. Originally written on piano, Kiki asked Greg to re-write the music for guitar.

The jazzy "No Other" is a feel-good love song with lyrics of rebirth ... "flowers bloom at the touch of your hand - you love me like no other can." The music as well as the lyrics, conveys the heady champagne of being in love.

"Mary" is a song written for Greg's childhood friend, Mary Petters, whose life was lost in an automobile accident. The opening lines, "I see no image in the mirror - I hear no wind up in the trees - as I walk your silent footprints - to the Mississippi" were penned after Greg received the phone call about her premature passing.

Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne," is the first cover song included on a dancing Light CD. In the early 70's, as a teenager, Kiki heard her mother's friend Susan playing Suzanne. Sitting at Susan's feet as she strummed and sang, a seed was sown.

"Wicked as a Minnesota winter...cold as the age of ice...I'm bruised as swollen skies...when I look into your eyes." While the opening lines, at first glance, may convey images of a personal relationship gone astray, upon further reflection of Kiki's verses, we find a story about logging Minnesota's primeval forests in the 1800's. In the liner notes, "Minnesota Winter" is dedicated to the Lost Forty, a stand of virgin red and white pine forest in the Agassiz Lowlands that was overlooked by loggers because of a surveying slip in 1882.

The endorphin-releasing "Can't Shake Me," features Greg's acoustic guitar, Greg and Kiki's call and response vocals, and three tambourines (is she playing one with her foot?). The mutated tambourine sounds in the break sound like an ebullient aggregation of shakers run amuck.

What started as a joke, a Barry White-ish love songs bemoaning the need for shorter (and thus more private) supports for their screen house window flaps, was hijacked by the Muse and developed into the tenth song on the Rice Cakes CD, "Love Sticks." Once again, bassist Jan Lundsten joins Greg and Kiki. Jim Burt, the recording engineer for the project, adds a romantic lead and rhythmic fills on his Taylor acoustic.

As in dancing Light's live concerts, Rice Cakes from the Moon closes with a crowd favorite: the infectious gospel-blues love song, "Yes It Does." Features Jim Burt on electric guitar, Jan Lundsten on electric bass and Mike Chase on drums, with Kiki on tambourine and Greg on acoustic guitar. "Yes It Does" has been selected to appear on the Oasis sampler, scheduled to be released in early 2007.