On July 18th at 9 pm, Cosmo Sheldrake with opener Heather Wolf, brought a joy-filled, eccentric show to Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.
Heather Wolf and her band “The Low Hanging Fruit” provided a mystical, witchy opening. Between her first and second song, she performed a sort of poetic interlude that felt like a magic spell. Wolf performed “Cool of the Day,” an Appalachian mountain song, playing her dulcimer, which sounded to me like frolicking in a field. Her duet co-written with Hale May, who was singing impressively smooth buttery backup harmonies throughout the set, “In the Tall Grass,” was beautiful, and included a whistling duet from two other bandmates. Her song “Wolf Woman” included both gorgeous vocals and wolf howling in the outro. Heather Wolf’s folky mountain music was a joy to see live. Her relatively mellow songs brought great energy, and her attitude on stage was confident, easy-going, and excited.
Cosmo Sheldrake kicked off his set with the most zany live looping and sample usage I’ve ever heard. He improvised, starting with rhythmic mouth sounds, then sampled his humming on a midi keyboard, and built up layer upon layer, adding bass and the occasional staccato hi-hat runs. He created a strange track of colliding sounds that made some audience members wonder aloud, “What’s going on?” and giggle inquisitively. He stripped back the chaotic track and started singing a reprise of “Cool of the Day.” It was a really fun way to get his set going, and I appreciated Cosmo Sheldrake’s openness to not only playing music but playing, having fun on stage, and sharing his enjoyment with us.
He then played his #1 song on Spotify, “The Moss,” which fans enthusiastically sang along to. The next song was called “Bathed in Sound,” his homage to the ocean, which was part of his project Wild Wet World. According to Sheldrake, 50% of the publishing income from the album is split amongst the whales, the coral reefs, and the various featured animals on the project. Sheldrake introduced us to the “characters” sampled in his song, which included: the blue whale for a deep buzzing bass, an oyster toad fish on the kick drum, buck-toothed parrot fish on the snare, and a choir of humpback whales from Maui.
“Soil,” a “love song to the soil,” fittingly features recordings he made of soil over the past few years while tagging along with his mycologist brother Merlin Sheldrake on his fungi research trips. These field trips with The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks and the Fungi Foundation have supported Cosmo Sheldrake’s obsession with “subterranean soundscapes,” or sounds recorded underground. He brought up a campaign where artists can now credit “Nature” on Spotify as a collaborator on songs, and that percentage of the income will go to various conservation organizations. It was important to Cosmo Sheldrake that part of the income from this song goes back to fungal conservation, so this song is officially: “Soil (feat. NATURE).” This song ended up being my favorite of the night, with lyrics that were moving and melancholy, such as, “I want to go downwards / I want to be ground / I want to be fed on / I want to break down / I want to be all gone / I want to be food / I want to be walked on / I want to be soil.”
Sheldrake’s thorough introductions before the songs tended to be longer than the songs themselves, which I found delightful. It felt like the audience, Heather Wolf and the Low Hanging Fruit, and Cosmo Sheldrake were all just hanging out and having a good time. Sheldrake was cracking jokes, telling stories, sharing his process and his art with us. He shared that his live on-stage setup is a new upgraded version that he’s still figuring out how to use. Several songs Sheldrake restarted, sometimes with a few more notes on the song before restarting, which I think enriched the experience.
There were a few lovely surprises during Cosmo Sheldrake’s set, including a duo dance team who came out unexpectedly mid-song to everyone’s delight, wearing wonderfully colorful jester costumes on two occasions. After their second appearance, Cosmo Sheldrake thanked the dancers again and told us one of them was his wife, who came out to perform the next song with him, “Honey On My Moon” which was so sweet!
Wrapping up his set (because he was going overtime), Sheldrake invited Heather Wolf and Hale May back up on stage for a song. While introducing the song, Sheldrake shared he’s known Wolf since they were both 14 years old. The three artists performed a cover of “The Falcon” written by Mimi and Richard Fariña, which is on Wolf’s album, as a trio for the first time in gorgeous harmony with each of their distinct, unique voices.
Sheldrake’s final song was titled “Does the Swallow Dream of Flying,” which he said was about “what it might feel like to be a non-human being” and featured “unbelievably subby bass,” which I found incredibly cinematic. The whole show had a fantasy forest vibe. It felt fun and care-free, sort of like we got to play together with Cosmo Sheldrake and his friends. The show was intimate and special, and I am so grateful I got to experience it.
Review by Serena McIntosh
