“Swallowing The Water You Walk On,” the second single from Half-handed Cloud’s forthcoming album Flutterama, is available for listening now. You can hear it on your preferred platform here.

This song, a fuzzy and organically meandering tape machine bricolage, comprised primarily of vari-speed pianos, handclaps, and deflating latex balloons, peeks out from under the covers for a way through failure and ruin, by embracing transformational weakness and surrender.  “Swallowing The Water You Walk On” is very possibly the heart of Half-handed Cloud’s new Flutterama album.

Flutterama is scheduled for release in just a couple of weeks on June 17, 2022. It’s available for pre-order here (or check with your local or online record store) on LP in Oxidized Tape Brown vinyl, CD, or Wild Bilberry Purple cassette, alongside a limited-edition patch and a biodegradable balloon. 

A handcrafted artist’s book by John Ringhofer, limited to only 15 copies, is also available for purchase in a special LP bundle. (Note: we are currently sold out of these! But they’re still neat to look at – see below for video – and we have an almost-as-good bundle that includes balloons, a patch, and a poster here). These individually-numbered artist’s books, made with the 180-year-old cyanotype (architectural blueprint) process, utilize “genuine Finnish sunlight,” and incorporate moving parts and hand-painted sections. 

Half-handed Cloud (aka John Ringhofer) and AKR and our artists have been collaborating together for a long time (HHC’s first album is AKR002, our second release!). HHC posted a series of posts on HHC’s Instagram account a number of weeks ago that provide a lot of fun details, including a rare interview with John Ringhofer and Sufjan from 2002 at WBAR. Listen to that here, and be sure to follow HHC on Instagram here.If you missed it, you can watch and listen to the first single, “Handles,”alongside a video shot in John’s adopted home of Helsinki, Finland with Super-8 movie film here.

Finally, be sure to check out HHC on Markly Morrison’s Low Profile podcast, which includes an interview and a terrific cable access performance by John Ringhofer of several HHC songs both classic and new. You can listen and watch here.