|
Greg Weeks is a New York-based singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist
(the moog being his favorite keyboard).
Fire In The Arms Of The Sun (BaDaDing, 1999) introduced his
hushed, subdued, minor-key and melancholy bedroom style,
somewhat reminiscent of Nick Drake.
What is unique about Weeks is the way he lets the instrumental parts
digress, as if they have a life beyond the lyrics, and complement
the song's story with an inward journey to the depths of the soul.
The Angel Of Death is an appropriate manifesto: a whispered
litany ends with a lengthy coda in which the guitar wanders aimlessly,
eventually met by a cello and an organ.
Joan Of Arc is a bit more upbeat, like a bossanova played by
Donovan.
Donovan's ethereal/pastoral/medieval tone also comes to mind for the six-minute
The Pale Shade, with one of the most complex, almost orchestral, codas.
Another relatively serene song,
The Flesh Of Terrain, resembles Leo Kottke's domestic vignettes.
But then the mood collapses, first with
Tracey Bowen's Double Life (and another odd instrumental coda)
and then with Leaves And Limerance, another highlight in that
semi-bossanova style (and one of the purest ballads),
all the way to the sinister tinkling and the solemn piano of
Straw Days (track 14), a song so gloomy to sound like a requiem.
Electronic noises flood the score of Harvest of Sighs (track 13),
another lengthy and complex confession.
(Note: the numbering of the tracks on the CD sleeve is incorrect).
The eight-song mini-album Bleecker Station (Ptolemaic Terrascope, 2000)
is a concept that documents the breakup of a relationship. Unlike the album,
this is a starker work, mostly limited to voice and guitar.
The electronic lieder of
Awake Like Sleep (BaDaBing, 2001)
mark a return to the style of the first album and a progression towards
a more futuristic sound.
The EP Slightly West (Acuarela, 2003) is a graceful appendix to the
album, with the material that sounds slightly more straightforward.
Philadelphia's Espers (Locust, 2004) is a folk-rock trio
(featuring vocalist Meg Baird and acoustic guitarist Brooke Sietinsons)
that perhaps relies too much on the pyrotechnics of Greg Weeks' acid guitar.
Even the lengthy Hearts & Daggers and Travel Mountains sound
contrived and unfinished.
The mini-album The Weed Tree (2005) collected covers.
Espers' II (Drag City, 2006), with the band now a sextet
(Weeks mainly on electronics, Baird on vocals, Sietinsons on acoustic guitar,
Swedish-born
Helena Espvall on cello, Chris Smith on bass, Otto Hauser on percussion), was
a far less derivative affair, more preoccupied with crafting ambience than
penning acic-folk ballads.
The lengthy Dead Queen, Children Of Stone and Dead King
melancholy evocative and zen-like impressionistic.
Even the singing is more ambient than merely decorative.
Blood Is Trouble (Ba Da Bing, 2005) returns to the introverted mood of
his solo albums. It loses in poetry what it gains in structure.
Baird debuted solo with Dear Companion (Drag City, 2007), a humble
collection in the vein of the British folk-revival of the 1960s.
Espvall and Batoh (Drag City, 2008) was a collaboration
between Helena Espvall of the Espers and Masaki Batoh of
Ghost, continued on
Overloaded Ark (Drag City, 2009).
Most of the Espers, including Greg Weeks, as well as members of Fursaxa and Fern Knight played on The Valerie Project (Drag City, 2007).
|
(Translation by/ Tradotto da xxx) Se sei interessato a tradurre questo testo, contattami
|
