A Corpus Callosum show starts small: an accordionist approaches the stage alone. He squeezes a slow chantey from the yawning bellows of his accordion. He sings. One by one his band mates emerge from the crowd. Each member of Corpus Callosum carries a worn brown suitcase. The lilting solo ballad effloresces into full orchestration as the performers divest their suitcases of the instruments therein concealed. Accordion is joined by a myriad of instruments including bells, mandolin, ukulele, toy piano and scrap-metal percussion, while vocals branch into four-part harmony.
There are seven members of Corpus Callosum: Avery Burke, Qarly Canant, Andrea Craver, Stevie Hryciw, Jason Samaha, Stephanie Stewart-Bailey and Dax Tran-Caffee. Throughout the performance each member will take several parts, calling for several instruments, and sing harmonies. With Stevie's arrangements Corpus Callosum can effect the sound of a small orchestra. Dax, a puppeteer with an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, builds an eight foot long Spanish galleon from seemingly haphazard bits of cardboard. Stephanie, a dancer trained in Prague, twirls with a giant moth puppet. Qarly, a graduate of the Clown Conservatory in San Francisco, dons stilts. Andrea spins tender melodies on the strings of a mandolin older than bluegrass.
In 2005 Corpus Callosum released an EP, Machine Under Its own Spell, which reached #1 on KUOI, ID, and charted across the country. In 2009 they were selected for the unsolicited Collaborative Grant from the Belle Foundation for Cultural Development. Their festival-scale puppet show, "The Museum Proper" received the Editor's Choice award at Maker Faire. The first full-length album, a self-titled package released on November 19, 2010, is a culmination of careful orchestrations that the band has been preparing for the last two years. The recording, featuring over 20 different instruments ranging from tuned wine glasses to stylophones to harpsichord, was woven together on reel-to-reel tape by producer Myles Boisen, nominated for a Grammy in 2003 for his work with the Tiger Lilies and Kronos Quartet. Please visit www.corpus.cc for more information, including a music video wherein the band performs Lullaby #2 in time-lapse while night overcomes the ocean waves around them.
