The Horse's Ha

The band's name draws from Dylan Thomas's short story The Horse's Ha, which might suggest a British folk-revival act with art-house leanings, yet Horse's Ha actually originates in Chicago, IL, its sound carrying not the slightest Midwestern character. At its core the project unites Freakwater's Janet Bean with the Zincs' Jim Elkington, supported by a postmodern jazz trio of Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nick Macri, and Charles Rumback—three of Chicago's finest improvising musicians—yielding a result that recalls Pentangle on cough syrup. Hidden Agenda released the group's first album, the eerie and compelling Of the Cathmawr Yards, in 2009; its title refers to the graveyard that appears in Thomas's story.