A lthough he's been playing guitar and writing songs for nearly two decades, engineer and musician Frank Cable only began playing in public last year. Mostly self-taught—he took a few guitar lessons when starting out—Cable doesn't read music, and plays everything by ear.
Last year, after answering an ad for a drummer on Craig's List, Cable began playing with Afro-pop group UAR. Soon after, Cable and UAR fiddler Jason Moses began playing as a duo, named Orionstar after Cable's seven-year-old son, Orion.
"I didn't think the music I wrote was very good until I got involved [with UAR]. Then I realized that, possibly, the music was worth playing out in public. So [Moses] and I started to play the music I had written," said Cable in a recent interview with the Advocate.
The duo began to add other musicians to Orionstar's roster, while keeping it familial—Moses' brother Dave and sister Leah joined the group, as well as siblings Steve and Dan Baer.
Cable writes lyrics about heady issues.
"I think we're hearing more and more about global warming and the pending energy crisis," said Cable. "A lot of these issues result from a Western mindset of, 'If it's there, you can have it or consume it.' I think this is a selfish philosophy. A lot of it is based on capitalism and big business, and now we're starting to see the global effects of this economy."
Orionstar's music isn't easily pigeonholed. With instrumentation including violin, flute, electric bass, harmonica and hand drums, Orionstar plays tunes that run from folk and rock to ambient and Afro-pop, most of them peppered with African beats and rhythms.
"I think something that has bearing on the sound of my music is that I was born in Morocco—I grew up in a military family," said Cable. "I've also lived all across the U.S."
"Enid's Song" opens with harmonica and violin, immediately lending the song a melancholy Western tone. Cable's deep voice croons words of love: "If heaven had a face it would be yours/ so soft like the clouds above me/ sunlight shines through this open door/ as I wait for you to come here and tell me/ that you love me."
Another deeply personal song is "Mills of Lawrence," which tells the story of Cable's father's life, fighting in Vietnam, being stationed in Morocco and working at a mill in Lawrence. Like all of Orionstar's songs, "Mills of Lawrence" was recorded live on Cable's laptop.
"I'm hoping in the future—maybe within the next year—I can make a decent recording," said Cable.
DIY recording, however, seems on par with Orionstar's playing techniques, which include writing nothing down and mostly improvising.
"[Writing music down] colors the way things look," said Cable. "For me, I see things as more a matter of painting… The way my mind works, it runs on pictures of things. I would like to think the imagery [in my songs] is quite apparent or vivid.""
Orionstar performs a benefit concert May 30, 7 p.m. at P.A.C.E. (Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton), 41 Union St., (413) 527-3700.
