Garland of Hours: Press

The hardest-working cellist in D.C. post-punk, Amy Domingues has performed with Fugazi, Bob Mould, Brandon Butler and many others. She also maintains a band identity as Garland of Hours, which recently released its second album, "The Soundest Serum." Except for Domingues, who sings and plays cello and keyboards, the lineup is completely different this time. Butler or Scott Adamson drums on most of the tracks, Jonah Takagi plays bass and Mary Timony contributes guitar to two songs.

If "The Soundest Serum" is not exactly a rock album, neither does it stress Domingues's more experimental interests. Eight of the nine tracks are songs, rooted in European madrigals and Appalachian ballads. Elopement leads to murder in the opening "Dear Henry," while "My Young Man" is the lament of a young woman who first gets a Dear Jane letter and then gets drunk. Sea chanteys and old-timey laments are all too common in today's indie-pop, but Domingues distinguishes hers with a limpid, often multi-tracked soprano and complex, inventive arrangements that encompass classical, jazz, prog-rock and the Velvet Underground.

-- Mark Jenkins

As far as retro-rock is concerned, contemporary bands have pretty much mined the past four decades to exhaustion. However, musicians with an affection for yore have found that there's a surprising amount of merit in reaching further back for your influences-even into a time beyond memory. As the leader of Garland of Hours, Amy Domingues doesn't quite reach as far back as bands like OM, whose work suggests the 13th century--Garland of Hours looks back only as far as the Renaissance. The group's modal melodies are equally haunting and hooky, using piano, cello, and Domingues' melancholy voice to evoke an eerie timelessness-as well as Baltimore's Lungfish. Get medieval when Garland of Hours performs with Fern Knight and Ilya Monosov...

Amy Domingues has played cello on albums by many of D.C.'s biggest
names -- Fugazi, Ted Leo and Bob Mould, just to name a few. On "The
Soundest Serum," she proves she's no mere sidewoman, though, as she
leads her band through a strong set nine-song set. The tracks range
from the torchy, spooky murder ballad "Dear Henry" -- highlighted by
the cutting guitar work of frequent collaborator Mary Timony -- to
the bouncy, piano-driven "Brick Eyes" to the solo-cello showcase of
album closer "Difficult Run." There's certainly a medieval feel to
the proceedings, but this isn't Renaissance Faire fare. It's hip,
seductive chamber pop done right.

Amy Domingues of Garland of Hours
Written by Joel Sparks

Among other virtues of DC’s do-it-yourself, independent-minded music scene, we’re privileged to hear a lot of music that doesn’t neatly fit into categories. Many artists have proved willing to cross genre lines in the name of innovation—and they have a town full of talented session players to draw from to make it happen. Thus one of the locals who has appeared on the most rock albums is Amy Domingues, classical cellist.

“I’ve been lucky enough to sit in and play cello on a number of amazing records,” says Domingues. She’s also been a formal member of seminal DC bands like Tsunami, writes film scores, plays piano and maintains a teaching studio.

The famous show at Fort Reno when Fugazi played through thunder and rain is one of her favorite local memories — and so is Yo-Yo Ma at the National Cathedral. “And of course, every show that Lungfish played,” says Domingues. “I also perform a good amount of classical music, and have found that side of the music community here just as welcoming and diverse.”

Not just a session player, she is herself one of those artists who successfully blends genres, with the neo-classical Threnody Ensemble and her own dreamy chamber-pop project Garland of Hours. Garland employs a rotating cast of famed local musicians like Fugazi’s multi-talented Brendan Canty.

“The DC music scene has been a little quieter compared to the heyday of the ‘90s when not only Dischord was putting out records but Teenbeat, Simple Machines, and Slowdime were as well,” Domingues says. “But it seems like there is definitely a new energy in the past few years. I feel like there's some real growth happening.”

With credits on more than 40 albums so far, she should know.

Check out Garland of Hours at the Black Cat on July 10.

Garland Of Hours - Garland of Hours

You might not know Amy Domingues by name, but fans of indie music from the ?90s to present are likely to have heard her at work. Having contributed cello arrangements to bands like Fugazi, Tsunami and Jets to Brazil, Garland of Hours shows Domingues stepping out to take centerstage. Backed by Fugazi drummers Brendan Canty and Jerry Busher, this is a soft and subtle debut showcasing the collaboration of classical training and the intuitive drive of musical partnerships. The band tours with Mary Timony this spring. (GarlandOfHours.com) ?Mike McKee

GARLAND OF HOURS- S/T, CD
Amy Domingues, known for playing cello for many bands, releaeases her own music. Backed by two members of Fugazi, Domingues presents complex, light songs with cello, piano, trumpet, guitars and various other instruments, both "real" and computerized. Her vocals are outstanding.

"Garland of Hours' self-titled CD isn't a Dischord release, but all the trio's members have played with Fugazi, Dischord's flagship act, and one of them, multi-instrumentalist Brendan Canty, is a founding member of that band. The chamber-rock group's central figure is cellist Amy Domingues, who also plays keyboards and sometimes sings. Two of these seven pieces, which range from the album's 12-minute jazz-classical-minimalist centerpiece "Esperance/Annamite" to the traditional ballad "Katie Cruel," are Domingues solo showcases. The threesome's melding of genres isn't especially bold, but it is skillful and consistently melodious. Of Washington's many experimental post-post-punk combos, Garland of Hours is the only one that owes more to Erik Satie than to Black Sabbath."

Garland of Hours
An Interview Upstairs at the Khyber
by Bonnie MacAllister

Amy Domingues sits upstairs at the Khyber, a stomach full of calamari, midway into a night that began with three frantic folks on cell phones. Domingues is trying desperately to ensure that merchandise belonging to her and Mary Timony and will be transported from the Knitting Factory in New York to this Philadelphia venue. Three gifted musicians, their equipment and various sundry items must be carefully schlepped on an East Coast tour of Timony and Garland of Hours, Domingues? newest project.

Timony rushes upstairs to lie down after her sound check, the stress of the evening visible in her face. Prostrate on the couch, she cries out, "Amy, we got the merch!"
Relief overtakes Domingues' face, and she resumes talking about the advent of Garland of Hours. Unfulfilled with touring and recording for bands as a cellist and a bass player, Domingues felt she needed to confront her musical issues. Domingues produced a self-recorded demo, authoring five instrumental songs for a 1957 Wurlitzer. After playing two shows, she began singing.
"I'd never taken voice lessons, I just never considered myself a singer. It slowly started happening," Domingues says.
A classically trained cellist and private music instructor, Domingues has toured and done session work with independent powerhouses such as Ted Leo, Jenny Toomey (while she was a soloist and with Tsunami), songstress Edith Frost, and Jets to Brazil.
"I am influenced a lot by formal composition," Domingues explains. "I was never really passionate about [composition] while I was studying. I didn't have the creative maturity to put it into perspective. I do use some classical influences when I'm thinking about writing music and thinking about which chords work together to evoke a certain feeling.?
?I'm really into color,? she says. "Scriabin [a Russian composer] had this whole theory of tones as colors and seeing sound or hearing colors. I've always been into the idea of trying to paint. I use that metaphor when I'm teaching because kids really understand that. Painting sound. Painting a landscape."
Earlier in the evening, founding Fugazi member Brendan Canty illustrates how he became involved with Garland of Hours. Doing soundtrack work, Canty met Domingues when he needed a cellist. A friend of Jerry Busher (one of Garland of Hour?s three drummers), Domnigues performed session work for the Fugazi album The Argument.
?Amy improvises. She writes off the top of her head really well. Her technique is flawless. For me as a producer, it was just really refreshing. We just hit it off immediately, working on these TV shows, collaborating on the sound,? Canty describes.
Playing solo as Garland of Hours, Domingues ?had just been playing a show and asks if Jerry and I want to play her music,? Canty says. ?She'd have parts and we'd arrange them. All this Garland of Hours stuff ? nothing happens without her writing.?
When Busher?s band French Toast toured with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Devin Ocampo (Smart but Crazy, Faraquet, Medications) filled out Garland?s touring line up and eventually became part of the permanent line up, as the third drummer. Ocampo and Domingues support Mary Timony as well on the current tour."We have three drummers. Everybody wants to play drums,? Canty says, grinning as he describes the rehearsal dynamic. ?We just jam and write shit. We're all major King Crimson Heads. We're all ready just to throw down. It's like a pony ? a pony in the practice room. All the time we're noodling away. ? Amy's, like, ?Fellas, can we work on that song we're supposed to be working on???