Elaine diFalco

• Active: '90s, 2000s
• Genres: Rock
• Instrument: Vocals

Biography

American singer, keyboardist, and accordionist Elaine diFalco has spent much of her music-making career in the Pacific Northwest, but she has not been limited by the major currents running through the popular music of her immediate geographical neighborhood. Along with her likeminded U.S. collaborators, DiFalco has had a wider perspective that has extended eastward across the country and the Atlantic to encompass other avant music explorers in Britain and Europe. On diFalco's recorded appearances to date, her engaging vocals and instrumental contributions often stand out as the most accessible elements of often challenging music. Her vocals are rich, resonant, and powerful, yet she never overdoes it -- she understands the effectiveness of understatement and her singing is refreshingly devoid of artifice. And her vocalizing is entirely outside mainstream styles that place a premium on histrionics, over-emoting, and melismatic showcases of vocal range -- yet she really sings; diFalco is not a breathy whisperer or prone to use her voice to express weakness or emotional fragility. She also sings as a bona fide bandmember -- as a keyboardist/accordionist who excels in avant-prog settings, diFalco has never been a singer with other musicians merely backing her up, and she is truly in the thick of things instrumentally. She navigates tricky music and makes it sound effortless, avoiding bombast with her sense of phrasing and space and her emphasis on vintage electric keyboard instruments and accordion rather than brittle and glitchy digital sounds.

DiFalco got her start after running away from home in her early teens and playing with Phoenix, AZ, punk bands during the 1980s, including the infamous Mighty Sphincter, aka Almighty Sphincter when she was a member, apparently helping to elevate the ensemble above the level of the mere "mighty." She was also a member of the God Wads, presumably named after what the Urban Dictionary website defines as "Any Jesus Freak. Particularly an oppressive one." (On that note, it is perhaps worth noting that Sam Harris' The End of Faith is on diFalco's more recent reading list.) The God Wads moved from Phoenix to Portland, OR, in 1990, where diFalco met bassist Fred Chalenor (whom she later married) and drummer Henry Franzoni. The following year she appeared for the first time as a member of the newly christened (no god wad reference intended) Caveman Shoestore, playing on two tracks out of ten on the group's self-released cassette entitled Rock.

The band's first full-length CD as a trio (diFalco on keyboards and vocals, Chalenor on basses, and Franzoni on drums), Master Cylinder, was released by Tim/Kerr Records in 1993, and has since been described by album producer Alessandro Monti as influenced by everything from Conlon Nancarrow to Black Sabbath and from grunge to prog rock. Monti also had high praise for diFalco's vocals -- noting that she sang wonderfully despite having a cold while the recording was underway. In 1994 the second Caveman Shoestore album on the Tim/Kerr label, entitled Flux, was released; the album found the band expanded to a quartet including Amy DeVargas on vocals, second bass, and cello -- indeed, DeVargas was a somewhat more prominent vocal presence (and more assertive in the higher ranges) than diFalco, and wrote or co-wrote five album tracks. The album had a more diverse sound overall than Master Cylinder and placed considerable emphasis on Chalenor/DeVargas interlocking bass parts, with diFalco's keyboard work often emphasizing the Hammond organ, although her synth and piano were featured as well. In a 2005 interview with Beppe Colli for the website Clouds and Clocks}, diFalco fondly recalled the lineup featuring two basses and no guitar, as well as the pleasure of singing harmonies with DeVargas. Flux also displayed DiFalco's talents as a cover artist, her rather primitivist outsider collage overflowing with absurd, surreal, and cartoonish characters and images.

Her first international collaboration was soon to arrive thanks to Fred Chalenor's use of fuzz bass, documented in an Italian fanzine that drew the attention of Hugh Hopper -- the British fuzz bass king of Soft Machine -- who contacted Chalenor and before long the two bassists were vowing to work together. In March of 1995 they did, with Hopper joining the group at Portland's Sound Impressions studio to record Caveman Hughscore -- with "Shoestore" changed to "Hughscore" in the band name to reflect Hopper's presence not only as bassist but also as composer of the material. Multi-layered, polyrhythmic, and quirky yet tuneful, the album stands as a strong outing for all concerned, certainly a feast for "fuzzaholics" and lovers of Hopper-esque angular basslines and twisted ostinatos overlaid by rippling keyboards played by diFalco in what could be heard as an extension of Canterbury stylings -- not to mention her typically wonderful vocals, singing both solo and in multi-tracked harmony, and on one occasion talking in one channel while Franzoni talks in the other. Of particular note is diFalco's singing, backed by Hopper and Chalenor's double-speed basses, on "Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening," originally sung by Robert Wyatt on Soft Machine's Volume Two. "This project was a BLAST!" diFalco exclaimed in the liner notes, adding, "I made two new friends: Hugh and the accordion." Indeed, her assured accordion playing was a truly unique sonic twist amidst the otherwise electrified instruments and arrangements that strongly reflected Hopper's influence and presence.

By spring of the following year some changes had been made when the group reconvened, this time in Seattle (which would become diFalco and Chalenor's new hometown) at Flora Avenue Studio: "Caveman" was completely gone from the band name, and the core group was considered to be Hopper, Chalenor, and diFalco, with guests Will Dowd on drums, Jen Harrison on French horn, and Craig Flory on reeds. Wayne Horvitz was the producer of the session (and also played a "ring modulated keyboard solo" on one particularly upbeat track), which saw release as Highspotparadox by Hughscore, again on the Tim/Kerr label, in 1997. Another strong outing, the album at times has a jazzier and more spacious vibe than the preceding disc, due in part to Horvitz's production sensibilities and Dowd's comparatively light drumming style, not to mention the tenor sax, clarinet, and bass clarinet contributions of Flory. DiFalco's electric keyboards prominently set the tone, her accordion is alternatingly precise and freewheeling, and her vocals -- whether she is singing lyrics or wordlessly -- reveal perhaps her most subtle and spacy side yet, while retaining all of her strengths of tone, phrasing, and intonation.

The most ambitious Hughscore CD, however, would arrive with Delta Flora, released by Cuneiform in 1999. (It is also, unlike the Tim/Kerr label releases that have gone out of print, readily available, with a reprinting by Cuneiform in early 2009.) Between September 1997 and September 1998, basic tracks were recorded at Flora Avenue Studio in Seattle and then Hopper and diFalco completed recording at Delta Studio in Chartham, Canterbury, England (hence the title Delta Flora). The quartet of Hopper, diFalco, Chalenor, and drummer/engineer Tucker Martine was supplemented by six guest musicians this time around, including a returning Craig Flory as well as Softs saxophonist Elton Dean, trumpeter Dave Carter, trombonist Robert Jarvis, pedal steel player Jon Hyde, and flutist Chrystelle Blanc-Lanaute. Instrumental tracks include a version of "Facelift" from Soft Machine's Third and arguably the definitive version of "Was a Friend" (also heard on Robert Wyatt's Shleep and Hopper's own Parabolic Versions), with diFalco's measured vocal delivery perfectly suited to the track's extended unsettling atmospheric undercurrents.

Although diFalco and Chalenor split up and diFalco moved to California (in her 2005 interview diFalco related to Beppe Colli that the bassist "is incredibly supportive and obviously my best buddy"), the Caveman Shoestore/Hughscore adventure continued into the new millennium with a new Caveman Shoestore release, Super Sale, on the Build-a-Buzz Records label in 2005. The band was back to its original trio lineup of diFalco, Chalenor, and Franzoni, who surmounted the logistics of living in three separate locations (with Chalenor in Seattle and Franzoni in Portland) to deliver yet another strong release, including diFalco's beautiful and hypnotic multi-layered vocal overdubs and her by now typically wide array of keyboards (Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond B-3, and more), all in the context of concise avant pop offerings generally within the two- to three-minute range.

Prog and art rock fans who pay attention to such things would next find diFalco temporarily moving inland from the West Coast to Colorado, where she fell into the orbit of the Thinking Plague/Hamster Theatre community of Rocky Mountain avant-proggers, and filled in for vocalist Deborah Perry during Thinking Plague's spring 2008 European mini-tour of France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Portugal. The club and festival dates featured some Thinking Plague "greatest hits," i.e., some of the most challenging and uncompromising music on the avant side of prog rock -- and as usual diFalco fit in with aplomb. While on the tour in Switzerland, Thinking Plague bassist and Hamster Theatre mastermind (and dance accompanist at the University of Colorado at Boulder) Dave Willey got in touch with the likeminded Cédric Vuille, a Swiss multi-instrumentalist (guitar, ukulele, clarinet, and more) with a decades-long involvement in the amiable yet Rock in Opposition-influenced L'Ensemble Rayé, itself an outgrowth of Débile Menthol, the first group to record for the Zurich-based RecRec Music imprint back in the early '80s. Willey and Vuille agreed to collaborate in a long-distance trio playing songs by diFalco and Willey and featuring diFalco on vocals, accordion, keyboards, and percussion; Willey on accordion, bass, guitar, and percussion; and Vuille on various instruments including ukulele, guitar, and ocarina.

Meanwhile, when back in the States, diFalco and Willey formed the duo Pook & Fuegi (who have opened for Hamster Theatre at Boulder's Laughing Goat). Based on aural evidence thus far (limited to MySpace} as of spring 2009), Pook & Fuegi present at least two faces to the world: a Hamster Theatre-esque melding of world-folk and prog influences ("Forro Fuega") and lovely understated avant pop with a strong Robert Wyatt flavor -- on diFalco's song "Ordinary Miracle" one might imagine Rock Bottom or a later Wyatt LP with Barbara Gaskin on lead vocals instead of the former Soft Machine drummer (indeed, this is the kind of music some Wyatt, Hatfield and the North, and/or National Health fans might have hoped for back in the day, when Gaskin and Dave Stewart headed off in a far slicker synth-driven "adult-oriented intelligent pop" direction, to some Canterbury fans' dismay).

Interestingly, Cédric Vuille is listed on the Pook & Fuegi MySpace} page as a member of the band, perhaps raising Pook & Fuegi duo identity issues. In any case, as diFalco and Willey look toward Vuille in Switzerland, it seems somehow apt that Vuille also choose them as American collaborators -- and perhaps even diFalco in particular despite the obvious congruence of Vuille and Willey in musical outlook. After all, Vuille spent one of his mid-'70s high-school years as an exchange student with a family in Oregon City, OR, where he absorbed West Coast musical influences from such groups as Hot Tuna, It's a Beautiful Day, and Little Feat (as related in the liner notes to his 2007 CD, #804 Center Street) -- and the Swiss musician has now found in diFalco a true West Coaster with whom to make music, even if appearing in the same studio or on the same stage might present logistical challenges given the geographical distance that separates them.

Most recently, diFalco is the featured singer on Dreams No Longer Hesitate, a 2008 Zond label release by transatlantic "brutal prog" outfit Combat Astronomy (led by Minnesotan James Huggett and featuring appearances by Brit avant-gardists Martin Archer and Mick Beck); the album even closes with a version of "Ordinary Miracle," with post-production engineering assistance from none other than Dave Willey. DiFalco also sings on three tracks of Italian guitarist Luciano Margorani's Pseudocanzoni (which also includes appearances by Chris Cutler on drums), released in 2008 on the BoZo imprint. At last word, diFalco was back in Oregon in the position of house arranger/composer through a music scholarship at Western Oregon University, and with her sights possibly set on Europe as a location for future life and music. Whatever path she takes, one hopes for more recordings featuring diFalco's keyboards, accordion, and of course vocals, in which she "doesn't pander [to] the audience...[or] indulge in the cliché sex-kitten stylistic mewings that most female pop singers go for," as the CD Baby} page for Caveman Shoestore's Super Sale aptly describes, adding "Elaine is a very unique musician." ~ Dave LynchUrban Dictionary} website defines as "Any Jesus Freak. Particularly an oppressive one." (On that note, it is perhaps worth noting that Sam Harris' The End of Faith is on diFalco's more recent reading list.) The God Wads moved from Phoenix to Portland, OR, in 1990, where diFalco met bassist Fred Chalenor (whom she later married) and drummer Henry Franzoni. The following year she appeared for the first time as a member of the newly christened (no god wad reference intended) Caveman Shoestore, playing on two tracks out of ten on the group's self-released cassette entitled Rock.

The band's first full-length CD as a trio (diFalco on keyboards and vocals, Chalenor on basses, and Franzoni on drums), Master Cylinder, was released by Tim/Kerr Records in 1993, and has since been described by album producer Alessandro Monti as influenced by everything from Conlon Nancarrow to Black Sabbath and from grunge to prog rock. Monti also had high praise for diFalco's vocals -- noting that she sang wonderfully despite having a cold while the recording was underway. In 1994 the second Caveman Shoestore album on the Tim/Kerr label, entitled Flux, was released; the album found the band expanded to a quartet including Amy DeVargas on vocals, second bass, and cello -- indeed, DeVargas was a somewhat more prominent vocal presence (and more assertive in the higher ranges) than diFalco, and wrote or co-wrote five album tracks. The album had a more diverse sound overall than Master Cylinder and placed considerable emphasis on Chalenor/DeVargas interlocking bass parts, with diFalco's keyboard work often emphasizing the Hammond organ, although her synth and piano were featured as well. In a 2005 interview with Beppe Colli for the website Clouds and Clocks, diFalco fondly recalled the lineup featuring two basses and no guitar, as well as the pleasure of singing harmonies with DeVargas. Flux also displayed DiFalco's talents as a cover artist, her rather primitivist outsider collage overflowing with absurd, surreal, and cartoonish characters and images.

Her first international collaboration was soon to arrive thanks to Fred Chalenor's use of fuzz bass, documented in an Italian fanzine that drew the attention of Hugh Hopper -- the British fuzz bass king of Soft Machine -- who contacted Chalenor and before long the two bassists were vowing to work together. In March of 1995 they did, with Hopper joining the group at Portland's Sound Impressions studio to record Caveman Hughscore -- with "Shoestore" changed to "Hughscore" in the band name to reflect Hopper's presence not only as bassist but also as composer of the material. Multi-layered, polyrhythmic, and quirky yet tuneful, the album stands as a strong outing for all concerned, certainly a feast for "fuzzaholics" and lovers of Hopper-esque angular basslines and twisted ostinatos overlaid by rippling keyboards played by diFalco in what could be heard as an extension of Canterbury stylings -- not to mention her typically wonderful vocals, singing both solo and in multi-tracked harmony, and on one occasion talking in one channel while Franzoni talks in the other. Of particular note is diFalco's singing, backed by Hopper and Chalenor's double-speed basses, on "Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening," originally sung by Robert Wyatt on Soft Machine's Volume Two. "This project was a BLAST!" diFalco exclaimed in the liner notes, adding, "I made two new friends: Hugh and the accordion." Indeed, her assured accordion playing was a truly unique sonic twist amidst the otherwise electrified instruments and arrangements that strongly reflected Hopper's influence and presence.

By spring of the following year some changes had been made when the group reconvened, this time in Seattle (which would become diFalco and Chalenor's new hometown) at Flora Avenue Studio: "Caveman" was completely gone from the band name, and the core group was considered to be Hopper, Chalenor, and diFalco, with guests Will Dowd on drums, Jen Harrison on French horn, and Craig Flory on reeds. Wayne Horvitz was the producer of the session (and also played a "ring modulated keyboard solo" on one particularly upbeat track), which saw release as Highspotparadox by Hughscore, again on the Tim/Kerr label, in 1997. Another strong outing, the album at times has a jazzier and more spacious vibe than the preceding disc, due in part to Horvitz's production sensibilities and Dowd's comparatively light drumming style, not to mention the tenor sax, clarinet, and bass clarinet contributions of Flory. DiFalco's electric keyboards prominently set the tone, her accordion is alternatingly precise and freewheeling, and her vocals -- whether she is singing lyrics or wordlessly -- reveal perhaps her most subtle and spacy side yet, while retaining all of her strengths of tone, phrasing, and intonation.

The most ambitious Hughscore CD, however, would arrive with Delta Flora, released by Cuneiform in 1999. (It is also, unlike the Tim/Kerr label releases that have gone out of print, readily available, with a reprinting by Cuneiform in early 2009.) Between September 1997 and September 1998, basic tracks were recorded at Flora Avenue Studio in Seattle and then Hopper and diFalco completed recording at Delta Studio in Chartham, Canterbury, England (hence the title Delta Flora). The quartet of Hopper, diFalco, Chalenor, and drummer/engineer Tucker Martine was supplemented by six guest musicians this time around, including a returning Craig Flory as well as Softs saxophonist Elton Dean, trumpeter Dave Carter, trombonist Robert Jarvis, pedal steel player Jon Hyde, and flutist Chrystelle Blanc-Lanaute. Instrumental tracks include a version of "Facelift" from Soft Machine's Third and arguably the definitive version of "Was a Friend" (also heard on Robert Wyatt's Shleep and Hopper's own Parabolic Versions), with diFalco's measured vocal delivery perfectly suited to the track's extended unsettling atmospheric undercurrents.

Although diFalco and Chalenor split up and diFalco moved to California (in her 2005 interview diFalco related to Beppe Colli that the bassist "is incredibly supportive and obviously my best buddy"), the Caveman Shoestore/Hughscore adventure continued into the new millennium with a new Caveman Shoestore release, Super Sale, on the Build-a-Buzz Records label in 2005. The band was back to its original trio lineup of diFalco, Chalenor, and Franzoni, who surmounted the logistics of living in three separate locations (with Chalenor in Seattle and Franzoni in Portland) to deliver yet another strong release, including diFalco's beautiful and hypnotic multi-layered vocal overdubs and her by now typically wide array of keyboards (Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond B-3, and more), all in the context of concise avant pop offerings generally within the two- to three-minute range.

Prog and art rock fans who pay attention to such things would next find diFalco temporarily moving inland from the West Coast to Colorado, where she fell into the orbit of the Thinking Plague/Hamster Theatre community of Rocky Mountain avant-proggers, and filled in for vocalist Deborah Perry during Thinking Plague's spring 2008 European mini-tour of France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Portugal. The club and festival dates featured some Thinking Plague "greatest hits," i.e., some of the most challenging and uncompromising music on the avant side of prog rock -- and as usual diFalco fit in with aplomb. While on the tour in Switzerland, Thinking Plague bassist and Hamster Theatre mastermind (and dance accompanist at the University of Colorado at Boulder) Dave Willey got in touch with the likeminded Cédric Vuille, a Swiss multi-instrumentalist (guitar, ukulele, clarinet, and more) with a decades-long involvement in the amiable yet Rock in Opposition-influenced L'Ensemble Rayé, itself an outgrowth of Débile Menthol, the first group to record for the Zurich-based RecRec Music imprint back in the early '80s. Willey and Vuille agreed to collaborate in a long-distance trio playing songs by diFalco and Willey and featuring diFalco on vocals, accordion, keyboards, and percussion; Willey on accordion, bass, guitar, and percussion; and Vuille on various instruments including ukulele, guitar, and ocarina.

Meanwhile, when back in the States, diFalco and Willey formed the duo Pook & Fuegi (who have opened for Hamster Theatre at Boulder's Laughing Goat). Based on aural evidence thus far (limited to MySpace} as of spring 2009), Pook & Fuegi present at least two faces to the world: a Hamster Theatre-esque melding of world-folk and prog influences ("Forro Fuega") and lovely understated avant pop with a strong Robert Wyatt flavor -- on diFalco's song "Ordinary Miracle" one might imagine Rock Bottom or a later Wyatt LP with Barbara Gaskin on lead vocals instead of the former Soft Machine drummer (indeed, this is the kind of music some Wyatt, Hatfield and the North, and/or National Health fans might have hoped for back in the day, when Gaskin and Dave Stewart headed off in a far slicker synth-driven "adult-oriented intelligent pop" direction, to some Canterbury fans' dismay).

Interestingly, Cédric Vuille is listed on the Pook & Fuegi MySpace} page as a member of the band, perhaps raising Pook & Fuegi duo identity issues. In any case, as diFalco and Willey look toward Vuille in Switzerland, it seems somehow apt that Vuille also choose them as American collaborators -- and perhaps even diFalco in particular despite the obvious congruence of Vuille and Willey in musical outlook. After all, Vuille spent one of his mid-'70s high-school years as an exchange student with a family in Oregon City, OR, where he absorbed West Coast musical influences from such groups as Hot Tuna, It's a Beautiful Day, and Little Feat (as related in the liner notes to his 2007 CD, #804 Center Street) -- and the Swiss musician has now found in diFalco a true West Coaster with whom to make music, even if appearing in the same studio or on the same stage might present logistical challenges given the geographical distance that separates them.

Most recently, diFalco is the featured singer on Dreams No Longer Hesitate, a 2008 Zond label release by transatlantic "brutal prog" outfit Combat Astronomy (led by Minnesotan James Huggett and featuring appearances by Brit avant-gardists Martin Archer and Mick Beck); the album even closes with a version of "Ordinary Miracle," with post-production engineering assistance from none other than Dave Willey. DiFalco also sings on three tracks of Italian guitarist Luciano Margorani's Pseudocanzoni (which also includes appearances by Chris Cutler on drums), released in 2008 on the BoZo imprint. At last word, diFalco was back in Oregon in the position of house arranger/composer through a music scholarship at Western Oregon University, and with her sights possibly set on Europe as a location for future life and music. Whatever path she takes, one hopes for more recordings featuring diFalco's keyboards, accordion, and of course vocals, in which she "doesn't pander [to] the audience...[or] indulge in the cliché sex-kitten stylistic mewings that most female pop singers go for," as the CD Baby} page for Caveman Shoestore's Super Sale aptly describes, adding "Elaine is a very unique musician." ~ Dave LynchClouds and Clocks}, diFalco fondly recalled the lineup featuring two basses and no guitar, as well as the pleasure of singing harmonies with DeVargas. Flux also displayed DiFalco's talents as a cover artist, her rather primitivist outsider collage overflowing with absurd, surreal, and cartoonish characters and images.

Her first international collaboration was soon to arrive thanks to Fred Chalenor's use of fuzz bass, documented in an Italian fanzine that drew the attention of Hugh Hopper -- the British fuzz bass king of Soft Machine -- who contacted Chalenor and before long the two bassists were vowing to work together. In March of 1995 they did, with Hopper joining the group at Portland's Sound Impressions studio to record Caveman Hughscore -- with "Shoestore" changed to "Hughscore" in the band name to reflect Hopper's presence not only as bassist but also as composer of the material. Multi-layered, polyrhythmic, and quirky yet tuneful, the album stands as a strong outing for all concerned, certainly a feast for "fuzzaholics" and lovers of Hopper-esque angular basslines and twisted ostinatos overlaid by rippling keyboards played by diFalco in what could be heard as an extension of Canterbury stylings -- not to mention her typically wonderful vocals, singing both solo and in multi-tracked harmony, and on one occasion talking in one channel while Franzoni talks in the other. Of particular note is diFalco's singing, backed by Hopper and Chalenor's double-speed basses, on "Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening," originally sung by Robert Wyatt on Soft Machine's Volume Two. "This project was a BLAST!" diFalco exclaimed in the liner notes, adding, "I made two new friends: Hugh and the accordion." Indeed, her assured accordion playing was a truly unique sonic twist amidst the otherwise electrified instruments and arrangements that strongly reflected Hopper's influence and presence.

By spring of the following year some changes had been made when the group reconvened, this time in Seattle (which would become diFalco and Chalenor's new hometown) at Flora Avenue Studio: "Caveman" was completely gone from the band name, and the core group was considered to be Hopper, Chalenor, and diFalco, with guests Will Dowd on drums, Jen Harrison on French horn, and Craig Flory on reeds. Wayne Horvitz was the producer of the session (and also played a "ring modulated keyboard solo" on one particularly upbeat track), which saw release as Highspotparadox by Hughscore, again on the Tim/Kerr label, in 1997. Another strong outing, the album at times has a jazzier and more spacious vibe than the preceding disc, due in part to Horvitz's production sensibilities and Dowd's comparatively light drumming style, not to mention the tenor sax, clarinet, and bass clarinet contributions of Flory. DiFalco's electric keyboards prominently set the tone, her accordion is alternatingly precise and freewheeling, and her vocals -- whether she is singing lyrics or wordlessly -- reveal perhaps her most subtle and spacy side yet, while retaining all of her strengths of tone, phrasing, and intonation.

The most ambitious Hughscore CD, however, would arrive with Delta Flora, released by Cuneiform in 1999. (It is also, unlike the Tim/Kerr label releases that have gone out of print, readily available, with a reprinting by Cuneiform in early 2009.) Between September 1997 and September 1998, basic tracks were recorded at Flora Avenue Studio in Seattle and then Hopper and diFalco completed recording at Delta Studio in Chartham, Canterbury, England (hence the title Delta Flora). The quartet of Hopper, diFalco, Chalenor, and drummer/engineer Tucker Martine was supplemented by six guest musicians this time around, including a returning Craig Flory as well as Softs saxophonist Elton Dean, trumpeter Dave Carter, trombonist Robert Jarvis, pedal steel player Jon Hyde, and flutist Chrystelle Blanc-Lanaute. Instrumental tracks include a version of "Facelift" from Soft Machine's Third and arguably the definitive version of "Was a Friend" (also heard on Robert Wyatt's Shleep and Hopper's own Parabolic Versions), with diFalco's measured vocal delivery perfectly suited to the track's extended unsettling atmospheric undercurrents.

Although diFalco and Chalenor split up and diFalco moved to California (in her 2005 interview diFalco related to Beppe Colli that the bassist "is incredibly supportive and obviously my best buddy"), the Caveman Shoestore/Hughscore adventure continued into the new millennium with a new Caveman Shoestore release, Super Sale, on the Build-a-Buzz Records label in 2005. The band was back to its original trio lineup of diFalco, Chalenor, and Franzoni, who surmounted the logistics of living in three separate locations (with Chalenor in Seattle and Franzoni in Portland) to deliver yet another strong release, including diFalco's beautiful and hypnotic multi-layered vocal overdubs and her by now typically wide array of keyboards (Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Hammond B-3, and more), all in the context of concise avant pop offerings generally within the two- to three-minute range.

Prog and art rock fans who pay attention to such things would next find diFalco temporarily moving inland from the West Coast to Colorado, where she fell into the orbit of the Thinking Plague/Hamster Theatre community of Rocky Mountain avant-proggers, and filled in for vocalist Deborah Perry during Thinking Plague's spring 2008 European mini-tour of France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Portugal. The club and festival dates featured some Thinking Plague "greatest hits," i.e., some of the most challenging and uncompromising music on the avant side of prog rock -- and as usual diFalco fit in with aplomb. While on the tour in Switzerland, Thinking Plague bassist and Hamster Theatre mastermind (and dance accompanist at the University of Colorado at Boulder) Dave Willey got in touch with the likeminded Cédric Vuille, a Swiss multi-instrumentalist (guitar, ukulele, clarinet, and more) with a decades-long involvement in the amiable yet Rock in Opposition-influenced L'Ensemble Rayé, itself an outgrowth of Débile Menthol, the first group to record for the Zurich-based RecRec Music imprint back in the early '80s. Willey and Vuille agreed to collaborate in a long-distance trio playing songs by diFalco and Willey and featuring diFalco on vocals, accordion, keyboards, and percussion; Willey on accordion, bass, guitar, and percussion; and Vuille on various instruments including ukulele, guitar, and ocarina.

Meanwhile, when back in the States, diFalco and Willey formed the duo Pook & Fuegi (who have opened for Hamster Theatre at Boulder's Laughing Goat). Based on aural evidence thus far (limited to MySpace as of spring 2009), Pook & Fuegi present at least two faces to the world: a Hamster Theatre-esque melding of world-folk and prog influences ("Forro Fuega") and lovely understated avant pop with a strong Robert Wyatt flavor -- on diFalco's song "Ordinary Miracle" one might imagine Rock Bottom or a later Wyatt LP with Barbara Gaskin on lead vocals instead of the former Soft Machine drummer (indeed, this is the kind of music some Wyatt, Hatfield and the North, and/or National Health fans might have hoped for back in the day, when Gaskin and Dave Stewart headed off in a far slicker synth-driven "adult-oriented intelligent pop" direction, to some Canterbury fans' dismay).

Interestingly, Cédric Vuille is listed on the Pook & Fuegi MySpace} page as a member of the band, perhaps raising Pook & Fuegi duo identity issues. In any case, as diFalco and Willey look toward Vuille in Switzerland, it seems somehow apt that Vuille also choose them as American collaborators -- and perhaps even diFalco in particular despite the obvious congruence of Vuille and Willey in musical outlook. After all, Vuille spent one of his mid-'70s high-school years as an exchange student with a family in Oregon City, OR, where he absorbed West Coast musical influences from such groups as Hot Tuna, It's a Beautiful Day, and Little Feat (as related in the liner notes to his 2007 CD, #804 Center Street) -- and the Swiss musician has now found in diFalco a true West Coaster with whom to make music, even if appearing in the same studio or on the same stage might present logistical challenges given the geographical distance that separates them.

Most recently, diFalco is the featured singer on Dreams No Longer Hesitate, a 2008 Zond label release by transatlantic "brutal prog" outfit Combat Astronomy (led by Minnesotan James Huggett and featuring appearances by Brit avant-gardists Martin Archer and Mick Beck); the album even closes with a version of "Ordinary Miracle," with post-production engineering assistance from none other than Dave Willey. DiFalco also sings on three tracks of Italian guitarist Luciano Margorani's Pseudocanzoni (which also includes appearances by Chris Cutler on drums), released in 2008 on the BoZo imprint. At last word, diFalco was back in Oregon in the position of house arranger/composer through a music scholarship at Western Oregon University, and with her sights possibly set on Europe as a location for future life and music. Whatever path she takes, one hopes for more recordings featuring diFalco's keyboards, accordion, and of course vocals, in which she "doesn't pander [to] the audience...[or] indulge in the cliché sex-kitten stylistic mewings that most female pop singers go for," as the CD Baby} page for Caveman Shoestore's Super Sale aptly describes, adding "Elaine is a very unique musician." ~ Dave LynchMySpace} as of spring 2009), Pook & Fuegi present at least two faces to the world: a Hamster Theatre-esque melding of world-folk and prog influences ("Forro Fuega") and lovely understated avant pop with a strong Robert Wyatt flavor -- on diFalco's song "Ordinary Miracle" one might imagine Rock Bottom or a later Wyatt LP with Barbara Gaskin on lead vocals instead of the former Soft Machine drummer (indeed, this is the kind of music some Wyatt, Hatfield and the North, and/or National Health fans might have hoped for back in the day, when Gaskin and Dave Stewart headed off in a far slicker synth-driven "adult-oriented intelligent pop" direction, to some Canterbury fans' dismay).

Interestingly, Cédric Vuille is listed on the Pook & Fuegi MySpace page as a member of the band, perhaps raising Pook & Fuegi duo identity issues. In any case, as diFalco and Willey look toward Vuille in Switzerland, it seems somehow apt that Vuille also choose them as American collaborators -- and perhaps even diFalco in particular despite the obvious congruence of Vuille and Willey in musical outlook. After all, Vuille spent one of his mid-'70s high-school years as an exchange student with a family in Oregon City, OR, where he absorbed West Coast musical influences from such groups as Hot Tuna, It's a Beautiful Day, and Little Feat (as related in the liner notes to his 2007 CD, #804 Center Street) -- and the Swiss musician has now found in diFalco a true West Coaster with whom to make music, even if appearing in the same studio or on the same stage might present logistical challenges given the geographical distance that separates them.

Most recently, diFalco is the featured singer on Dreams No Longer Hesitate, a 2008 Zond label release by transatlantic "brutal prog" outfit Combat Astronomy (led by Minnesotan James Huggett and featuring appearances by Brit avant-gardists Martin Archer and Mick Beck); the album even closes with a version of "Ordinary Miracle," with post-production engineering assistance from none other than Dave Willey. DiFalco also sings on three tracks of Italian guitarist Luciano Margorani's Pseudocanzoni (which also includes appearances by Chris Cutler on drums), released in 2008 on the BoZo imprint. At last word, diFalco was back in Oregon in the position of house arranger/composer through a music scholarship at Western Oregon University, and with her sights possibly set on Europe as a location for future life and music. Whatever path she takes, one hopes for more recordings featuring diFalco's keyboards, accordion, and of course vocals, in which she "doesn't pander [to] the audience...[or] indulge in the cliché sex-kitten stylistic mewings that most female pop singers go for," as the CD Baby} page for Caveman Shoestore's Super Sale aptly describes, adding "Elaine is a very unique musician." ~ Dave LynchMySpace} page as a member of the band, perhaps raising Pook & Fuegi duo identity issues. In any case, as diFalco and Willey look toward Vuille in Switzerland, it seems somehow apt that Vuille also choose them as American collaborators -- and perhaps even diFalco in particular despite the obvious congruence of Vuille and Willey in musical outlook. After all, Vuille spent one of his mid-'70s high-school years as an exchange student with a family in Oregon City, OR, where he absorbed West Coast musical influences from such groups as Hot Tuna, It's a Beautiful Day, and Little Feat (as related in the liner notes to his 2007 CD, #804 Center Street) -- and the Swiss musician has now found in diFalco a true West Coaster with whom to make music, even if appearing in the same studio or on the same stage might present logistical challenges given the geographical distance that separates them.

Most recently, diFalco is the featured singer on Dreams No Longer Hesitate, a 2008 Zond label release by transatlantic "brutal prog" outfit Combat Astronomy (led by Minnesotan James Huggett and featuring appearances by Brit avant-gardists Martin Archer and Mick Beck); the album even closes with a version of "Ordinary Miracle," with post-production engineering assistance from none other than Dave Willey. DiFalco also sings on three tracks of Italian guitarist Luciano Margorani's Pseudocanzoni (which also includes appearances by Chris Cutler on drums), released in 2008 on the BoZo imprint. At last word, diFalco was back in Oregon in the position of house arranger/composer through a music scholarship at Western Oregon University, and with her sights possibly set on Europe as a location for future life and music. Whatever path she takes, one hopes for more recordings featuring diFalco's keyboards, accordion, and of course vocals, in which she "doesn't pander [to] the audience...[or] indulge in the cliché sex-kitten stylistic mewings that most female pop singers go for," as the CD Baby page for Caveman Shoestore's Super Sale aptly describes, adding "Elaine is a very unique musician." ~ Dave LynchCD Baby page for Caveman Shoestore's Super Sale aptly describes, adding "Elaine is a very unique musician." ~ Dave Lynch, All Music Guide