Featuring C Joynes, Erlend Apneseth & Margit Myhr, The Little Unsaid, Isaac Birituro and The Rail Abandon, Jacqui Alpine, Myriam Gendron, Sarah Louise, Elkhorn, Charlie Parr, Circuit Des Yeux, Ben LaMar Gay, Six Organs Of Admittance, Träd, Gräs och Stenar, Lonnie Holley, Colin Stetson / Sarah Neufeld Duo.
Carrying on with our KLOF series, the latest episode features a diverse number of new and older releases.
Described by The Wire as “a warm and idiosyncratic brew”, Open Arms to Open Us is the latest release from Chicago cornetist Ben LaMar Gay (main image) whose wide-ranging electro-acoustic compositions reflect his curiosity of the world, a curiosity that he carries “inside my front pocket at all times.”
Growing up, spending summers in Alabama, one of my favorite chores was feeding the pigs that were on my great Aunt Lola’s land. Sometimes while on the path to the feeding grounds, Aunt Lola and I would stand still and listen together. We would immediately become aware of winds approaching through wavering pines, quail songs and the chatter of distant cousins just up the road...
The track that opens the mix, by C Joynes, is taken from The Hired Hands: A Tribute to Bruce Langhorne, released on Scissor Tail Records in 2017:
His music has influenced and touched a lot of lives over the years, either through his soundtrack work with Peter Fonda or his studio work in the 1960’s as the go to hired hand for musicians such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Odetta… and many others. If his name is new to you I suggest browsing his wikipedia page to acquaint yourself with the volume of work he accomplished throughout the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Scissor Tail Editions was lucky enough to release Bruce’s score to Peter Fonda’s 1971 anti-western “The Hired Hand”on vinyl in 2012.
The goal here was to ask artists to cover or reinterpret a song of their choice from the soundtrack. No rules on whether the music should be derivative of a certain song, if the soundtrack inspires a mood, then the artists use their intuition.
Taken from The Little Unsaid‘s December Songs (a Featured Album of the Month – reviewed here) is December Sun which nestles perfectly between the beautiful vocals of Margit Myhr on Min Gud jeg prise vil med flid and Ghanaian/UK outfit Isaac Birituro and The Rail Abandon‘s tribute to Bill Withers on their new single Bill.
New to many will be the music of Jacqui Alpine, a musician and writer from Massachusetts whose influences are, like many of those featured here, wide-ranging: “I was drawn to the traditional dissonant and full-bodied vocal music of Bosnia and Georgia, as well as American shape note singing, 14th century polyphonic vocal music, and classical music.” She is also working on a book of poems and essays. Her poems have appeared in The Second Factory by Ugly Ducking Presse.
Ma délire – Songs of love, lost & found is an album I’ve previously featured in these mixes, recorded in 2021 during lockdown by Myriam Gendron and which features a number of guest musicians including percussionist Chris Corsano who features on this original track La jeune fille en pleurs.
Sarah Louise‘s Earth Bow cropped up in a number of our end of year lists for 2021 and was reviewed here by Glenn Kimpton…”The vocals, which exist within the fibres of the arrangements as rhythms and refrains as well as narratives, evoke a sense of nature through descriptions like grass ‘sweet like cinnamon’ (Jewel of the Blueridge) as well as a timeless connectedness.”
Featuring Drew Gardner (6 String Guitar), Jesse Sheppard (12 String Guitar) and Turner Williams (Shahi Baaja), Elkhorn make a welcome return with another live recording, released on Blue Jole Recordings. The Golden Lag is also available on cassette (see Bandcamp links below).
Also appearing in our end of year lists was Charlie Parr‘s Last of the Better Days Ahead (reviewed here) and Circuit Des Yeux‘s ‘io’ (reviewed here) – “Fohr’s work as Circuit Des Yeux is consistently challenging, boldly experimental and always liberating. -io is probably her strongest work to date, a powerful statement born out of genuine feeling.”
A track from Six Organs of Admittance‘s 2017 album ‘Burning the Threshold’ also makes an appearance: “The gentleness found here provides much of what we need for the way forward: love, forgiveness, reality and an ever-wider view, with the understanding of our circular path in life. A powerful draught of musical essence.”
We then roll back the clock for Sweden’s pioneers of DIY culture Träd, Gräs och Stenar with a track from their self-titled expanded album (re-issued/remastered 2016) featuring their two essential live albums from 1971/72.
We close the mix with two contrasting tracks: Lonnie Holley‘s Crystal Doorknob is taken from his 2020 album National Freedom which transcends genre and which Pitchfork described as “streams of consciousness unimpeded by the architecture of the waking mind.”
And finally, on Never were the way she was (2015), instrumental soloists Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld joined forces on original compositions for horn and violin. The duo first began playing together while on tour together as soloists in 2012. Constellation Records described this release as “an incredible (and impressively diverse) integration of composition, performance, timbre and texture…” and “…a sum quite definitively and thrillingly greater than its parts.”
Music Played
- C Joynes – No Further (The Hired Hands) – Bandcamp
- Erlend Apneseth & Margit Myhr – Min Gud jeg prise vil med flid (Slåttesong) – Bandcamp
- The Little Unsaid – December Sun (December Songs) – Bandcamp
- Isaac Birituro and The Rail Abandon – Bill (Bill – single) – Bandcamp
- Jacqui Alpine – Candle: one (Candle) – Bandcamp
- Myriam Gendron – La jeune fille en pleurs (Ma délire – Songs of love, lost & found) – Bandcamp
- Sarah Louise – Jewel of the Blueridge (Single Version) (Earth Bow) – Bandcamp
- Elkhorn – Part 1 (The Golden Lag) – Bandcamp
- Charlie Parr – Bed of Wasps (Last of the Better Days Ahead)
- Circuit Des Yeux – Walking Toward Winter (-io) Bandcamp
- Ben LaMar Gay – Aunt Lola and the Quail (Open Arms to Open Us) – Bandcamp
- Six Organs Of Admittance – Taken By Ascent (Burning The Threshold) – Bandcamp
- Träd, Gräs och Stenar – Ragatrall (Träd, Gräs och Stenar) – Bandcamp
- Lonnie Holley – Crystal Doorknob (National Freedom) – Bandcamp
- Colin Stetson / Sarah Neufeld Duo – And Still They Move (Never were the way she was) – Bandcamp
Photo Credit: Alejandro Ayala