Listen to this track by Vancouver violinist/loop technician and singer-songwriter Hannah Epperson. It’s “Murder of Crows” as taken from her 2011 EP Home Batch.
The EP was self-recorded and self-released. All the while, Epperson served in opening act slots for acts like Dan Mangan, The Zolas, Shane Koyczen, and others. Earlier this year, she played at Uptown Live, which is a musical event right here in New Westminster, just outside of Vancouver. I missed her slot!
But, I wrote a piece for the event that introduced me to her music while I was writing it. Epperson’s sound touches on similar neo-classical, ambient, and folk-pop territory as Andrew Bird and Kishi Bashi; atmospheric, delicate, and intertwining melody lines that seem to suggest a grand sense of narrative, even without the lyrics.
In those lyrics, the crows are “violently voyaging home”. They also seem to represent the inevitability of change, too. The song hooks into some primal imagery, with dreadful portent that is contrasted against a light-as-air arrangement, played and sung entirely by Epperson alone.
Musically speaking, her approach that puts the electronic/acoustic split to rest when it comes to figuring out what kind of artistic slot to put it in. This music is both acoustic and electronic, with each texture balanced out against the other. Figuring out which camp it belongs in becomes beside the point.
You can catch up to Hannah Epperson on Facebook for upcoming shows and releases.
Enjoy!
The Delete Bin 
Very unusual and special piece that deservedly grabs your attention. The collective ‘murder of crows’ deserves its own music.
When I first heard this, and knowing that she’s local-ish, I instantly thought of the very large murder of crows that regularly congregate in Burnaby around 4PM in the afternoon near the British Columbia Institute of Technology. They roost on the building and are utterly silent. It’s kind of unnerving, and strangely peaceful at the same time.
I wonder what the gathering is for!