Search - Christian Kiefer, Above the Orange Trees :: The Inexplicable Falling

Christian Kiefer and Jeff Pitcher first met in 1999 at a café in Sacramento. The two musicians understood immediately that they shared the same spirit and the same simple goal: to create great art. This concept blurs the seemingly unassailable boundaries between musical genres, focusing instead on the art of music, of songwriting, of sound itself. Pitcher and Kiefer began discussing various possible collaborations soon after they met. Kiefer performed on Pitcher?s 2001 release A Terrible Beauty, playing mandolin on "And Still Breathing," and Pitcher played guitar on the closing track of Kiefer?s 2003 release Medicine Show, "Dream On Sweet Life." Nonetheless, both artists hoped for a more collaborative work. Talk began of a split EP, with each artist covering a song from the other artist?s songbook. But it quickly became apparent that the project would require a full-length CD. Each artist simply had too much material to contribute for a short project. Each artist recorded separately, Above the Orange Trees in Alameda, California, and Christian Kiefer in his mountain studio in Colfax, California. When each artist was finished, CDs were swapped and for the first time they were able to hear the other?s work, including the mutual covers. Upon listening to The Inexplicable Falling, one is immediately struck by narrative arc that seems to run through the entire CD. Above the Orange Trees? half essentially is about the painful dissolution of a relationship, with the lush, joyful sounds of the first few tracks slowly stumbling into a silent, eerie piano song with haunting, whispered vocals. Kiefer?s half unintentionally picks up that same narrative by recasting the 16th century broadside folk ballad, "The House Carpenter." Kiefer?s narrative describes a simple house carpenter who is led away to his eventual doom at the hands of a former lover. Inadvertently (and unintentionally), the listener is allowed a glimpse into the other side of Above the Orange Trees? story. From Above the Orange Trees? joyful opening cut (Christian Kiefer-penned "Erendira") to the final, emotive anger of Christian Kiefer?s album closer (written by Above the Orange Trees? frontman Jeff Pitcher), The Inexplicable Falling takes the listener on a journey, from lush joy to emotive, quiet sadness. It is a journey not to be missed.