James Blackshaw & Jozef Van Wissem
BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT -
The Wolf Also Shall Dwell With The Lamb - CD/LP

---

LP is limited to 500 copies. The first 100 are on white vinyl.Click on the record cover for an image of the vinyl version. CD version is packaged in a digipack.

Brethren of the Free Spirit are guitarist/composer James Blackshaw and lutenist/composer Jozef van Wissem. Named after a cult of 13th-century Northern European religious heretics this duo play with an appropriately zealous intensity. Brethren of the Free Spirit debuted in New York and went on a crusade through the Lowlands, Belgium, Spain, Ireland and London even apearing On the Dutch National VPRO TV show 'Vrije Geluiden." Intricate phrases circle and spiral in on themselves, and in the end it's the subtle shifts in rhythm and tonal coloration that provide a kind of transcendence in a sea of repetition.

The Wolf Shall Also... was recorded at Locksley Hall, Amsterdam in April 2008. It considest of 4 long circular compositions in which the duo employ all methods of contemporary performace styles to free the lute and merge the two instruments.
Intentionally recorded in mono it's ocasionally impossible to tell the two instruments apart. Perhaps that's just what makes this duo so successfull - the players and the instruments become unified in historical references to the musics of both the ancient lute contemporary acoustic guitar. For example, Into The Dust Of The Earth is based on a classical baroque lute prelude from the 1650 by an anonymous composer. The theme is mirrored midway turning the piece into a palindrome, updating the material in the process. Blackshaw weaves his 12 string tapestry hypnotically intertwining the lute and the guitar into one modern piece of ancient tunage bringing the lute into the present day.

The drawings on the cover by Belgian brethren Wouter Van Haelemeesch reference greek myths as well as medieval alchemical emblems by the likes of Michael Maier.

MP3

The Wolf Also Shall Dwell With The Lamb
Into The Dust Of The Earth

Reviews

Also Recommended

imprec213 ZAK RILES self titled $12.99 info, reviews & mp3

Zak Riles is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the Important band Grails. His creative contributions to the group are immeasurable and can be heard clearly on this self titled debut solo outing. In fact some of the pieces on this solo record have been reinterpreted into Grails favorites...... (more)

imprec185 THREE DAY BAND s/t (John Fahey/Ayal Senior) $11.99 info, reviews & mp3

John Fahey and Ayal Senior layed down the tracks for Three Day Band in Fahey's Woodburn Hotel room at some point in 1999. These tracks show an undocumented improvisational side of Fahey. It's certainly not early period Fahey but not TOTE era either. At night after the recording sessions commenced Ayal would record Fahey reading selected excerpts from his writing. Fifteen tracks of Fahey reading are included here. ......(more)

imprec084 JAMES BLACKSHAW O True Believers $11.99 info, reviews & mp3

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. 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 occasionally embellished with other instruments such as the Hindustani tamboura and harmonium and a specially tuned psaltery of Eastern-European origin called a Cymbala

imprec183 JOHN FAHEY The Mill Pond & Collected Paintings $12.99 info, reviews & mp3

The Mill Pond was originally released in 1997 as a double 7" that went immediately out of print. For it's 10th aniversary we're issuing it on compact disc housed in a deluxe letterpressed jacket and including an extensive booklet collecting John Fahey's paintings for the very first time. Limited edition...(more)

imprec172 TAU EMERALD Travellers Two $11.99 info, reviews & mp3

Travellers Two is a full length recording from the duo of Tara Burke (Fursaxa) and Sharron Kraus. Togerther Kraus & Burke create an ethereal record of dark-folk magic. Tara Burke and Sharron Kraus were due to travel to Finland together for a week but missed the flight (more)