Outside, the freezing desert night. This other night inside grows warm, kindling. Let the landscape be covered with thorny crust. We have a soft garden in here. The continents blasted, cities and little towns, everything become a scorched, blackened ball. The news we hear is full of grief for that future, but the real news inside here is there's no news at all. Poet Rumi	click to view dance project. When Melford assembled a trio in Austria for a multimedia project, My Face of Us All , with butoh dancer Dawn Saito and architect Michael Haberz in fall of 2000, she drew musicians from two of her working ensembles: trumpeter Cuong Vu from The Same River, Twice, and bassist Stomu Takeishi from Crush. With this trio Melford saw the possibilities for creating a new sound from the remains of old ones.	Her new working ensemble, The Tent, comprises a pool of five musicians including Cuong Vu on trumpet, Stomu Takeishi on electric and acoustic bass guitar, and Melford herself on both piano and harmonium (and occasional vocals). Melford employs The Tent's players in shifting settings, from an electro-acoustic quintet or quartet to smaller configurations, such as a drummerless trio of trumpet, bass, and piano/harmonium. With this flexible group, Melford encompasses a region between acoustic and electronic music, between world music (including material she studied in India last year), contemporary classical and jazz.