Weirs

North Carolina’s experimental folk collective Weirs have released a mesmerising live video for “Lord Bateman,” the centrepiece of their acclaimed album Diamond Grove. Captured at the FEAST festival, the performance features intricate shadow puppetry. This release coincides with the launch of their East Coast tour, which begins tonight in Washington, DC.

Fiddles screech and swirl, a pump organ sighs and groans. Child-Lanning’s dulcimer is indebted to Jean Ritchie, and at points, an autoharp conjures the spirit of Maybelle Carter. A total of ten musicians contribute… and then there are the electronics, the decayed tape loops, the environmental recordings. The individual musical strokes are loose and expressionistic…Weirs’ Diamond Grove is hypnotic, bucolic, meditative, jarring, melancholic, jubilant: an exceptional musical document.

Weirs’ new album, Diamond Grove, captures a moment in time by embracing the unique sonic imperfections of its recording site. The lead single, “I Want to Die Easy,” features vocals recorded with the natural two-second reverb of a farm silo, creating a hauntingly timeless sound that merges traditional hymns with contemporary experimentalism.