The last time we checked in with John Vanderslice, he was having a really good day: celebrating the release of his Romanian Names LP, and his birthday, and eating a delicious looking cake. Everybody was smiling, which is pretty typical when people are around JV. There's some warm-hearted interaction at the open of this video, too, John and Minna Choi (the arranger for the Magik*Magik Orchestra) trading compliments for each other's contributions to this collaborative performance of Romanian's "Too Much Time." Vanderslice strums and sings tenderly while Magik*Magik supply beautifully bowed strings and percussion. You'd be right to detect a certain chemistry; Magik*Magik is "the official house orchestra" of John's Tiny Telephone studio. Which only begs the question of why JV hasn't done a whole album like this yet. Very pretty:
The video was shot by Nate Chan and Yours Truly at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Romanian Names is out via Dead Oceans.
