Originally released on CD in 2005 and out of print for a decade, Thiefth is the first of four collaborations between poet Susan Howe and musician David Grubbs. Limited to 100 copies, this special edition includes a 12x12 inch letterpress print by Susan Howe, produced by Grenfell Press, accompanied by a hand-stamped LP in letterpress sleeve. Howe and Grubbs were first brought together when the Fondation Cartier in Paris proposed a collaborative performance. Grubbs had been a dedicated reader of Howe’s for more than a decade, and the opportunity to work with Howe’s poetry and her voice immediately intrigued.  In late 2003, the two set about to create performance versions of “Thorow” and “Melville’s Marginalia,” the two of Howe’s longer poems that comprise Thiefth.

Drawing from the journals and letters of Sir William Johnson and Henry David Thoreau, “Thorow” evokes the winter landscape around Lake George in upstate New York and the historical violence of our national identity. Howe and Grubbs engage the lake’s icy surface as well as the voices that haunt the unseen world beneath. “Melville’s Marginalia” explores Herman Melville’s notations in books he owned and loved— marginalia in which he sometimes argued with the authors. Grubbs brings together a diverse collection of sound sources, referencing Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata, Howe’s splitting of words, melting snow, and flight patterns overhead.  Thiefth features contributions from Swedish reed player Mats Gustafsson and Greek cellist Nikos Veliotis.  

A: Thorow (15:08)
B: Melville's Marginalia (19:46)