I could not read on air the great notes Dave kindly sent me for the show, so here they are for you to have a look through, to learn more about his Howdy Persephone project.

First off, my name is Dave Keifer. I’m a librarian by trade, but music smiled on me when I was fairly young, and I’ve been smiling back as best I could ever since. I started out as a drummer in a folk-punk band back in the 80s, and by the turn of the century had realized that you could make music with computers. Now I mainly use apps to make sounds, and FL Studio and Audacity to edit. I’m essentially a collagist, and for years have been trying to work as unconsciously as possible—trying to bypass intellect, will, ego, etc. That said, I’ve recently been trying to make music that’s less abstract and more personal. Which is maybe somewhat in opposition to my first goal, but not necessarily a contradiction of it. Which sounds like something a librarian would say.

In 2005 I started releasing music on netlabels. I released as Cagey House and then as Kid Feardive. Neither of those names really meant anything, although Kid Feardive is an anagram of David Keifer. I came up with the name Howdy Persephone based on a really egregious misreading of a painting called “Aeneas and the Sibyl in the Underworld” by Jan Brueghel, compounded with a gross misunderstanding of the Orphic myths. So I guess it really doesn’t mean anything either, but there’s still something about it that fits. (Confusion is an often underappreciated state of mind.) Anyway, around the end of 2015 I thought it would be nice to release entirely on my own schedule so I took up with Bandcamp, and to a lesser extent the Free Music Archive. I still love the net labels though, particularly Pan y Rosas Discos and Happy Puppy, both of which were wonderful to work with and run by really great people, namely Keith Helt and Lee Rosevere.

Unexpectedly, I started picking up a few bucks here and there from Bandcamp. I didn’t really want to keep the money, so I figured I’d contribute it to House of Ruth—which provided services for women who are victims of intimate partner violence. I wanted a women-oriented charity for two reasons. First, the biggest influences on my music for the past couple years have been women—specifically Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, and Judee Sill. Second, the Women’s March of Washington this past January, was such a beautiful thing. My wife and a bunch of her friends went, and they were electrified. It was the first sign that maybe, somehow, the U.S. might be able to right itself, after the disaster of Trump’s election. Which of course remains to be seen, but there is hope.

Dave also told me a little bit about a couple of tracks I selected:

Several Scribbles [track 5] was one of the first things I did on an iPad. Lots of hand gestures and very little forethought. Kind of abstract expressionist. :)

What’s In Walser’s Other Hat [track 6] was originally a kind of guitar and drums thing, but then I ran it through a midi input into a piano synth and this was the result. I did that a lot for a while. I like how insistent it is, like it’s got something to say and isn’t going to stop talking until it’s said it.

Hesitations for Piano [and Cymbal Monkey] [track 14] was inspired by Linus Lemont, who’s this far out jazz/glitch drummer/multi-instrumentalist who lives out in Milwaukee. We collaborate sometimes as Splicey and Tracky. Linus plays the best drum solos I’ve ever heard.

Thanks again, Dave, for the great music, and for providing us with some background information about it.

  1. Howdy Persephone - If We Could Move Inside the Air (Its Ashes Still Float, not on label, 2016, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  2. Howdy Persephone - Another Tiny City (Its Ashes Still Float, not on label, 2016, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  3. Howdy Persephone - Indubidably (bloop, not on label, 2016, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  4. Howdy Persephone - Rite to Four (First Moon Only Moon, not on label, 2016, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  5. Howdy Persephone - Several Scribbles (First Moon Only Moon, not on label, 2016, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  6. Howdy Persephone - What’s in Walser’s Other Hat? (Appeasing Four Crows, not on label, 2016, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  7. Howdy Persephone - The Indirect Way (The Wild Hunt, not on label, 2016, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  8. Gentil - Sans les oreilles (single track, not on label, 2017, France & Australia) – download the track on SoundCloud
  9. Howdy Persephone - Mothers’ Night (The Wild Hunt, not on label, 2016, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  10. Howdy Persephone - P Looks for the Light (Candle Brigid, not on label, 2017, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  11. Howdy Persephone - What the Darkness Knows (Candle Brigid, not on label, 2017, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  12. Howdy Persephone - Gould Transmission (Four Ghosts for Parentalia, not on label, 2017, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  13. Howdy Persephone - The Haunted Sleeves (Four Ghosts for Parentalia, not on label, 2017, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  14. Howdy Persephone - Hesitations for Piano and Cymbal Monkey (Sproing Ballads, not on label, 2017, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  15. Howdy Persephone - The Jolly Old Rain (Topo, not on label, 2017, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp
  16. Howdy Persephone - Out Out (Blocksberg Curtain, not on label, 2017, USA) – download the release on Bandcamp