Borrowed Arms, the sophomore effort from the acclaimed chamber pop trio 2 Foot Yard, is available now on Yard Work. For every album sold, the band will donate $.50 to the Canyon School organic gardening project in Canyon, CA as well as to Food Change in Harlem, NY. Borrowed Arms is the group’s first studio album since 2003’s self-titled debut. Amplifier says of the band’s latest effort, “2 Foot Yard’s classical instrumentation blends so seamlessly with the traditional bass, drum, and guitars configuration that it’s hard to figure out who’s zooming who.”  2 Foot Yard is currently planning several live performances, which The New York Times has commended for “mixing high musicianship and bright ideas with street-band roughness,” calling their songs “unpretentious, gorgeously arranged, witty and spooky.”

2 Foot Yard is the collaborative effort of acclaimed musicians Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) on violin and vocals, Marika Hughes (Charming Hostess) on cello and vocals, and Shahzad Ismaily (Laurie Anderson, Ceramic Dog) on drums, percussion, and guitar. Though she came up in the classical canon, Kihlstedt is “…a musician fruitfully working in the margins of the known musical world” (Santa Barbara News-Press).In addition to being a founding member of Tin Hat, Kihlstedt has many musical endeavors spanning several genres. Likewise, Marika Hughes—granddaughter of acclaimed cellist Emmanuel Feuermann—is a celebrated classical cellist that has studied at Juilliard and Barnard. Hughes has played in many San Francisco Bay area symphonies and chamber groups including Grammy-nominated Quartet San Francisco and has recorded with artists such as Tom Waits, Santana and Xiu Xiu. Hughes recently performed on the east coast with Mary J. Blige.  Shahzad Ismaily has studied traditional forms of music all over the world, including Bali, Pakistan, Japan, Morocco, Brazil and India and has composed written works for small chamber ensembles, short film, dance and live theater. Most recently, Ismaily co-wrote the score to “Frozen River,” winner of the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury Prize.

Borrowed Arms expands upon their unique signature sound, combining the harmonic breadth of contemporary classical music with pop melodies that highlight the diverse musical backgrounds of each musician. Recorded in Brooklyn, the 13 song collection presents a variety of musical genres and styles. Kihlstedt explains “The whole record seems like a constellation of songs, each of which really have their own sound world.” Hughes elaborates “Our music is cinematic in scope. It can be grand and full of evocative textures, and then arrestingly spare from one song to the next.” The album features guest appearances by several musicians, including Kihlstedt’s fellow Tin Hat bandmates Mark Orton, Ben Goldberg and Rob Burger as well as violist Jessica Troy and guitarists Myles Boisen and Jim Camplilongo.