Popcorn Behaviour (Jay Ungar, Swinging Door Music)
Lads of Laois
Cecilia picked both of these tunes up from jams and Irish session players around Boston.
Apple Blossom
June Apple
Apple Blossom is a sweet, cheerful tune that we've paired with the slightly more rowdy June Apple, one of Cecilia's all-time favorite traditional tunes.
Trip to Moscow (Ian Ball)
This is a fun tune because you can play it so many ways: smooth and calm, marchy and joyful, intense and driving. Here we do some of everything.
Out on the Ocean
Seanamhac Tube Station (John Carty)
Out on the Ocean is a classic jig that it seems everyone knows and loves. Seanamhac's moodier atmosphere lends itself well to a little bluesy foolin' around—and we like to sneak in the secret third part :)
Griffin Road (Noah VanNorstrand, Magic Minke Music)
This tune became a bit of a cult classic at the fiddle camp Cecilia went to as a teenager. Written by one of Cecilia's fiddling heroes, this is a slightly faster take on a very groovy tune.
The Cliffs of Moher
Rec Hall (Noah VanNorstrand, Magic Minke Music)
An energetic jig into another bopping Noah tune. On the second tune Jeff plays bass whistle, a synthesizer he designed controlled by whistling.
Kitchen Girl
Vladimir's Steamboat (Jay Ungar, Swinging Door Music)
A couple more teenage upstate New York fiddle camp hits that we like to pull out when the caller asks for something "old-timey" or a square dance.
Let the Bottle Circulate
A traditional Scottish pipe tune that sounds centuries younger than it is. Jeff learned this from Laura Cortese's playing at the Boston Urban Ceilidh.
Salt River
Not Salt Creek, nor Salt Spring! A slightly lesser known salty
old-time tune that Cecilia learned from Bruce Molsky.
Raccoon in the Compost (Amy Englesberg)
From a very young age Cecilia stood over her dad's shoulder
watching him play StarCraft, and during the pandemic twenty years
later they started playing the game together. She wrote the Hydralisk
for her dad's birthday, named after a StarCraft
monster.
Julia's Waltz (Jeff Kaufman)
Jeff wrote this waltz for his now-wife for their first Valentine's
day together.
The Hydralisk
(Cecilia Vacanti)
Recorded live in Amherst MA, Albany NY, Montpelier VT, Northboro MA, Jamaica Plain MA, Rehoboth MA, and Worcester MA. No overdubs!
Cecilia Vacanti: fiddle, effects, cover art
Jeff Kaufman: mandolin, drums, synths, recording, graphic design
Dana Billings: editing, mixing, mastering
Mira Whiting: photography
All tunes traditional unless otherwise noted.