Cedars, November 2017

November 2017 12 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Noticing Icarus: Significant Suffering Band made up of CU students and alumni creates music to bring attention to what makes us human by Allison White M usic plays a significant role at Ce- darville University, from student choirs to chapel bands. Noticing Icarus, an indie rock band created by a few of Cedarville’s own students and alumni, brings a fresh, unique sound to the musical culture on campus. The band currently consists of David Grandouiller, Brandon Apol, Connor Smith, Calvin Hitchcock and, the newest addition to the band, Ben Heath. Grandouiller is the lead singer and plays the acoustic guitar, Apol is the lead guitarist, Smith plays bass guitar and also incorporates the upright bass, Hitchcock is on the keys, and Heath is the drummer. Through the years, Noticing Icarus has performed in The Hive, on the hill beside the student center, and in Chuck’s. One of their performances was a Christmas special in Chuck’s for Campus Christmas including some clever renditions of popular Christ- mas songs. Noticing Icarus began its initial steps when Grandouiller and Apol played in the Battle of the Bands in the Cedarville Opera House. Although they were just beginning they found that they liked playing together. Apol then went searching for more members after Grandouiller booked a gig in Columbus and expressed the need for a full band. Eventually, they built the band up with Smith, Hitchcock, and a series of drummers. After a lot of brainstorming, they agreed on the name “Noticing Icarus” and the band was official. Grandouiller came up with the band name. At the time, he had been thinking a lot about the mythological character Icarus after reading a poem about a painting titled “Land- scape of the Fall of Icarus” by Pieter Bruegel. Despite the title of the painting, Icarus is actually an insignificant part of it. It is meant to show that suffering is insignificant to anyone that it is not happening to. Suf- fering goes on without people noticing. The name “Noticing Icarus” is a play off of this work of art. The idea, Grandouiller said, is to focus on noticing the things happening in the background, to pay attention to the suf- ferings that make us human. Grandouiller said that when he writes songs, he usually brings an idea to work on with the band. “It normally comes out totally different than when I originally envision it,” he said. The band works together to shape the song into a work of art that resonates with their listeners. Sometimes, Grandouiller brings in a specific vision for a song and they try not to deviate too far from it, but many times he will just bring in a rough Photo courtesy of David Grandouiller Noticing Icarus takes its name from “The Landscape of the Fall of Icarus,” a painting by Pieter Bruegul designed to show that human suffering often goes unnoticed.