Idle Creatures

Idle Creatures

Tom Hagerman is a gifted multi-instrumentalist (playing violin, accordion, and piano), best known as a member of the genre-defying DeVotchKa. Innovative chamber pop string arrangements form the backbone of Idle Creatures (including an appearance by Austin’s Tosca String Quartet), but as with his regular band, Hagerman’s solo work is eclectic. Toy pianos, vocal choirs, woodwinds, and percussion are all put to delightful and unexpected use here. These imaginative instrumentals showcase a wide emotional range, with each track inhabiting its own cinematic universe. “Granny Old Wound” and “March of the Lunatics” are sly and humorous with a hint of Raymond Scott; “The Eye Sees Not Itself,” “Lullaby,” and “Disposed Time” are moving, dynamic, and complex; and “Happy Music for Sad Children” and “The Night Cap” incorporate a Balkan flair that'll be familiar to DeVotchKa fans.

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