The Horse's Ha

Since the group takes its name from the Dylan Thomas short story The Horses Ha, one might assume that this band was a British folk revival group with art house intentions, but Horses Ha hails from Chicago, IL, although there is nothing even remotely Midwestern about their sound. Horses Ha is really Freakwaters Janet Bean and the Zincs Jim Elkington with a postmodern jazz trio (Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nick Macri, and Charles Rumback -- three of Chicagos finest improvising musicians) behind them, and the result sounds a bit like Pentangle on cough syrup. The groups debut album, the eerie and compelling Of the Cathmawr Yards (named after the graveyard featured in Thomas story), was released by Hidden Agenda in 2009.