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A powerful mix of freak folk, gypsy jazz, latin fusion, and atmospheric indie rock that leaves you buzzing.
StitchCraft is a winding tale of chasing kites and sewing seeds in the soil and the stories that blow and grow life into our lyrical bodies. Our community creates the music that we absorb and reflect back with insistence and intensity. Our stories spin and sail into each other's to create patchworks of meaning - like the quilts that comfort us in the face of inevitable loss - like the soup that feeds our hungry ghosts; we honor the participation of the player, the muse, and the audience in their dance with life, death, adventure and self realization. Music is a lover and a healer to all of us.
The ever evolving musical entity, StitchCraft, expands and contracts to consist of anywhere from one to five musical components. Current main songstress, Heather Normandale plays guitar, mandolin or banjo, accompanied by arrangements with any possible combination of cello, 5-string violin, flute, bass, percussion, drums, horns and vocal harmonies.
As a solo performance, the intimacy of the strong lyrical nature of the music becomes very raw and accessible. Heart-hitting vocals and rhythmically full-bodied, finger-picking guitar styles also carried over in nontraditional ways to the banjo and resonator steel mandolin.
As a duo, trio, quartet, or quintet, StitchCraft expands it's musical potential in big ways, inspiring free-form dance, hypnotic engagement and sonic leaps of faith from your sense of daily hum drum to a feeling of awe and appreciation for the beauty the world has to offer.
Anna Perlmutter and Ezra Lipp, long time former members of the group performed and arranged the most recent album with Heather and recording engineer/producer Ashley Beach of Seagrape Studios. The album also showcased a number of other fantastic local bay area musicians such as James Riatto, Joshua Stacy, Danny Cao, Alan Williams, and Christian Dam.
Their newest album, Through the Hoolaboo, released in May, 2009, creates a densely rich and atmospheric soundscape with powerful vocals, orchestral arrangements, and a creative range of instrumental influences. The name of the album, and much of the lyrical substance originates from the shared history of ocean to tree hopping, growing in the lightness and darkness of change.
In the quilted history surrounding the group's first collaborations, the song "In Memory" was written as part of a choreographed therapeutic dance for members of their community to memorialize the death of a friend. To honor the life that remains with us is a strong undercurrent of the album and band's internal ethos. Purchase the album at www.cdbaby.com/stitchcraft2
StitchCraft has had the honor of being involved in San Francisco's sustainable music movement, contributing to and performing in the Bicycle Music Festival, which travels from park to park on pedal powered PAs and all human power. In June 2009, StitchCraft saw the unraveling of the splendid northern California WALKING TOUR with 6 bands and Shake Your Peace leading the walking minstrel adventure.
StitchCraft just got back from a summer of fantastical West Coast touring, spending s portion of the tour on bike! Check out for upcoming blog spinning the tales of this recent adventure. . .
Thanks for being our buddies! Super-stoked you are super-stoked on what we are doing. Hope to see you at the next show (July 30 at El Rio and/or Aug 7 at the Indepedent). Until then... keep rockin'!!!
hi, i love what im hearing so far. I hope you received my e-mail (olivia Doty) the other day, and that we can work something out for Saturday, August 8th. We would love to have you here in Ashland, OR.
Hello, it's me, Ruby Jane. I am a 14 year old fiddler, songwriter. I have some songs posted that are fresh out of the studio..not mastered and pretty close to finished mixing. Let me know if you like the new songs..be one of the first to hear, even before they are released!Thanks! Ruby Jane
Hi StitchCRaft, just wanted to give you a heads up about Amnesia this Thurs. There is a great night of music and merrymaking in store with Buxter Hoot'n, Ledbetter and His Best Bet and a french gypsy band, Dgiin. Starts at 9. PEACE 2 U!
As promised, I listened to the album when I got home at 1am. Then, since I was tired, again on my roof that afternoon at 4pm with the wind and sun enveloping me. Best. Afternoon. Ever. Then again that night just for good measure. I seriously cannot convey how pleased I am.
