I guess that a duo of acoustic fingerstyle guitar is a little bit outside my normal range, although I did go a bit dappy about a Steve Gunn record a few years ago. Maybe it's time for me to go through another phase, because this is a little gem. I'm too young (!) to remember John Fahey, but I gather this stuff is called American Primitive and he basically invented it. I seem to go for the less showy end of the genre, and this certainly ticks that box: it's unpretentious, although not unambitious. Sonically, this is about as different as you can get from, say, a drone or minimal record, and likewise in terms of the technical skills on display, but I don't think it's a huge stretch to make the case that they have something in common, spiritually perhaps: these are long tracks, with subtle variations on repetitive elements, that build up to mesmeric effect. Whatever, I'm really loving this right now.
I bought this from Boomkat. They call it Folk / Roots.
Comments