Far Driven Sun finds an elemental, full form return to Buck Curran‘s musical roots, a deep love for the ambient and resonant nature of the acoustic steel-string guitar in alternate tunings.
The album was inspired by a special guitar, a ‘Butterfly’ Model 1 acoustic made by Stefan Sobell in Northumberland, England, in 1990 (more on this below). He is joined on the album by Nataly Kozlova, playing bass on Unicorn Song and ILiad (Slight Return), and Francesco Di Lenge, who plays drums on ILiad (Slight Return).
Far Driven Sun is out now on all streaming platforms and CD available in the US through ESP-Disk’ and Obslete Recordings Bandcamp in Europe. The Vinyl edition will be available in October through Echodelick Records.
Buck Curran on Far Driven Sun
Far Driven Sun is largely a study of compositions and improvisations in CGCGCD tuning with the exception of Deserto Parallax and Solstice in CGCGCEb, Unicorn Song, which was written in Open G tuning, and May 10th, 5:15 in DADFAD.
The album was inspired by and made with a unique ‘Butterfly’ Model 1 guitar made by Stefan Sobell in 1990…a guitar that I used to record my duo Arborea’s first album Wayfaring Summer in 2006 and the track ‘Plains of Macedonia’ on Arborea’s second Self-titled album from 2008. I had been separated from this guitar for 18 years and got it back in March of 2024. Upon its return, I was immediately immersed in its beautiful sound, and the music just started flowing. Aside from using the Butterfly, I also employed heavy use of an EBow and a brass slide.
Notes on a selection of instrumentals from Far Driven Sun:
Unicorn Song
Unicorn Song is my daughter Lucia’s favourite song among the music that I’ve composed (and she actually titled it). I created it spontaneously when she was between 3 and 4 years of age (she recently turned 5), and she often asks me to play it and dances along. Lucia even refers to it as ‘her song’. In general, family life and my children inspire a lot of my music. Technically speaking, the music came about after tuning my guitar to Open G one day (Open G tuning naturally evokes very bright and joyful feelings) as I was trying to reimagine the use of a particular chord shape I learned from English guitarist Martin Simpson when he showed me how to play Robert Johnson ‘Come on in my Kitchen/Stones in My Passway’ many years ago. With the addition of Nataly Kozlova on bass, I was also intentionally going for a bit of a Led Zeppelin atmosphere as I put the music together…I was hearing a John Paul Jones-style moving bass line, and I think Nataly came up with a wonderful part, which we played together before we recorded. The progression initially came together rather quickly, except for the bridge, which I added sometime later.
You are My Sun
You are my sun is something Adele and I used to say to each other when we first got together. Both of our wedding rings have a symbol that we created, which represents two hearts moving into the sun. The song is dedicated to her and the music represents a particular soundscape…of the sun slowly rising through the clouds and up over the hills of Bergamo…a slow, languid sunrise. I witnessed a lot of beautiful sunrises here in Bergamo during the winter of 2023 and 202,4 and the images were set deep in my mind. It’s a musical reflection of my admiration and deep feelings for her. You are My Sun was composed in CGCGCD tuning.
Deserto Parallax
The template for this composition is rooted in memory and feelings that have remained after first hearing Ry Cooder’s Paris, Texas Soundtrack many years ago. Deserto Parallax is my own soundscape that flows about landscapes from my own experiences as I have journeyed through the West in North America and also in the Dead Sea region of Israel. The title for the song was inspired by my friend Maximilian Tzortzsatos’s band Deserto Parallax (one of my favourite bands). Max took a trip to Morocco, to the village of Merzouga in the Sahara Desert, last year, and I was inspired by the stories he told me (and from the photos and a video I saw from his journey). The vast, desolate and beautiful landscapes (nearly void of water except for oases) of the Sahara, the American West, and the Dead Sea evoke intense images…especially of the great precipice between life and death.
I used CGCGCEb tuning, and the music just flowed out of the colours of that tuning.
ILiad
ILiad was the first composition that I recorded after I got the Butterfly back. The melody and chord progression seemed to manifest out of thin air as soon as I tuned the guitar in CGCGCD tuning. The instrumental evoked images of an epic journey, hence naming it after Homer’s epic poem The Iliad. I also wanted to feature the voice of the Butterfly and its full range of tonal colours…so I used everything: fingerpicking and strumming, slide, harmonics, etc.
ILiad (Slight Return)
With this version, I wanted to expand on the original track. Influenced by Bert Jansch’s A Woman Like You from Birthday Blues and Pentangle, I asked two dear friends (both amazing musicians) to join me: Francesco Di Lenge on drums and Nataly Kozlova on bass.
Solstice
A soft, quiet meditation, a contemplation on the joys of family life and the warm glow that is created (when everyone is huddled together….particularly months spent together during the long, cold darkness of winter. The music is dedicated to my children, Francesco and Lucia, Liam and Shylah.
Bells
An improvisation manifested through prominent use of harmonics, EBow, and Slide. I adhered to creating an ambient modal piece of music with a focus on the exploration of a melodic progression.
Vignette
Another ambient melodic modal piece of music of solo guitar with a focus on a particular arpeggiated chord progression. Vignette (Twilight) is the first recording I made of this short composition…although this version has the additional ambience of slide, EBow and harmonics, which created a more haunting soundscape than the more plaintive solo guitar version. To my mind, Vignette also reveals a bit of the subconscious influence of hearing the music of Michael Hedges.
May 10th, 5:15
A strange, ambient arpeggiated chordal progression that manifested itself one afternoon in May.
Far Driven Sun is out now on all streaming platforms and CD available in the US through ESP-Disk’ and Obslete Recordings Bandcamp in Europe. The Vinyl edition will be available in October through Echodelick Records.
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