Last Charge Of The Light Horse capture the simple beauty of life’s ebb and flow on their new single and lyric video Torricelli’s Ocean — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Inspired by Italian physicist Evangelista Torricelli’s quote, “We live at the bottom of an ocean of air,” the song begins with a driving rhythm that settles into a gentle cascade. From there, the overall mood of the song is a sunny shimmer, like light skittering across water, rounded out by wailing guitar and full, honeyed harmonies. It’s contemplative and reflectively celebratory at the same time.
Torricelli’s Ocean comes from alt-rock quartet Last Charge Of The Light Horse’s album Octet, which was written with the pandemic as an immediate backdrop. In 2020, Long Island, N.Y. singer-songwriter and guitarist Jean-Paul Vest and his family were not only in the midst of the global health crisis, but also moving house after 20 years in the same place.
“Our new place came with a stray cat, a black-and-white tuxedo who had befriended the previous residents. He and I cautiously got to know each other as our family unpacked our old life, finding spots for some of our belongings and discovering we had outgrown others,” Vest recalls. “Gradually we collected those crumbs of familiarity that make a home, and at the same time, I began collecting little snippets of musical ideas on the acoustic guitar hanging on the wall by my desk.”
Not typically a prolific songwriter, Vest found the eight songs of Octet flowing through him over a mere four days. “Broadly, the songs are about the ebb and flow of human connection and isolation,” he says. “But the view is from a close perspective, focusing in on the moments when you’re lying awake with your worries at night, or laughing at a table with dear friends who you’ve sorely missed, or navigating the pitfalls of attempting to provide tech support via telephone to an elderly relative two time zones away.”
Last Charge Of The Light Horse formed in 2004 as a vehicle for Vest’s offbeat tunes. The lineup of the group evolved in the early years before stabilizing for the past decade as a quartet, with Vest joined by drummer Shawn Murray, lead guitarist Bob Stander and bassist Pemberton Roach. West Coast pals Jim Watts and Pam Aronoff have also become regular contributors, with Watts also mixing and co-producing every Last Charge release since 2011’s Curve EP. To date, they have released five albums and two EPs.
Watch the lyric video for Torricelli’s Ocean above, listen to Octet below, and keep up with Last Charge Of The Light Horse at their website and Instagram.
