a r t i s t : James Blackshaw
t i t l e : O True Believers
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Important (imprec084)
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : Mar/2006
t r a c k s : 04
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 59,10 MB
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When UK-native James Blackshaw plays his 12-string, something
spiritual takes place. This unassuming 23 year-old is
transformed into a guitar god whose name belongs alongside the
likes of Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans, and Glenn Jones.
Making instrumental, solo, acoustic music that remains
consistently interesting and moving is a difficult task. Yet,
time after time, Blackshaw hits out of the park, constantly
breaking boundaries in what could be conceived as a somewhat
limited medium. O True Believers is the latest in a string of
impressive releases, all with their own mood and inspiration.
An untrained musician living in the isolated suburban environs
of Greater London, Blackshaw draws inspiration not only from
the early Takoma Records roster, but from sources as varied as
the sublime film-work of Werner Herzog, the books of Richard
Brautigan and an endless amount of music: free-jazz, 60's
psych, drone, ethnic music and modern-day composers, to name
a few. He is also an enthusiastic runner, part-time poet and a
keen reader of books on Hindu and Sufi religion and mythology.
Consisting of mainly solo 12-string acoustic guitar, played in
a finger-picked style not too dissimilar to Robbie Basho,
perhaps Blackshaw's biggest inspiration, James Blackshaw has
devised new tunings and new techniques both of which are in
full display on O True Believers. In these part improvised and
part written songs, Blackshaw traverses between Eastern
and Western scales; simple and incredibly intricate picking
patterns; waves of fast, powerful rolls and glass-fragile
harmonics. The album is embellished with other instruments
such as the Hindustani tamboura and harmonium and a specially
tuned psaltery of Eastern-European origin called a Cymbala.
Like most of his previous work, O True Believers may be born
of a finite moment of hope in a sea of infinite sadness, a
fleeting moment of fragile beauty that extends beyond it's
physicality. Unlike past albums, the listener's feeling upon
conclusion is more ambiguous: there is no happy and immediate
resolution, as if ghosts of the past will find themselves
resurfacing time and time again in the future, an idea which
is reflected in several reoccurring themes within the songs
themselves. Colourful ragas sit next to mournful Fahey-esque
refrains, triumphant mountaintop marches besides almost neo-
classical chord changes, endlessly repeating until there
is only transcendence.
This is James Blackshaw at his most vunerable and sincere and,
with that, there comes rare and wonderful qualities to his
music: truth and freedom.
http://importantrecords.com/images/content/release_pages/impre
c084_release_page.htm
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01-Transient Life in Twilight [11:38]
02-The Elk with Jade Eyes [18:16]
03-Spiralling Skeleton Memorial [07:34]
04-O True Believers [05:46]
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43:14 min