As the dog days of summer take hold, who can resist the siren call of the ice cream truck? I sure can’t; the stacks of Choco Tacos in my freezer are proof.
Gothamist today has a fun interview with Michael Hearst, who loves ice cream but grew tired of hearing trucks play the same old songs summer after summer. So he sat down and created an entire album of new music for ice cream trucks, appropriately titled Songs for Ice Cream Trucks, with song titles like “The Popsicle Parade”, “Tones for Cones”, and my favorite, “Chocolate, Vanilla or Swirl?”
As with his work in One Ring Zero, Hearst uses a variety of eclectic instruments — including accordion, melodica, claviola, glockenspiel, and theremin — to evoke memories of childhood summers, but without the tinny, repetitive renditions of “Pop Goes the Weasel.” The album was featured on a Today Show segment and more than fifty trucks nationwide are now playing his music. The track linked below is one of the album’s more melancholy tunes: a rumination on where ice cream trucks go during the winter.
Buy Songs for Ice Cream Trucks by Michael Hearst (Amazon)
Michael Hearst: Where Do Ice Cream Trucks Go In the Winter? (MP3 download)