This album was my introduction to the incomparable Valencian group L’Ham de Foc. I’m not sure I would be the musician I am today without this album.
My solo album Worlds Within owes a great deal to Cello, both in its atmospheric quality and elemental landscape, but also its form, with recurring pieces containing subtle variations. This is the album that inspired me to create layered cello arrangements, both on my own records and on sessions for clients. This is perhaps due to its oblique and mysterious nature – a vision shrouded in impenetrable darkness. Throughout, Cello exudes a starkness and austerity that is beautifully haunting, and for me it has never lost its staying power, even after hundreds of listens. “Fables” and “Indiana Indian” seem to instill a sense of childlike wonder and awe tracks such as “Lament” and “Choral” evoke indescribable sorrow, and “Psalm” and “The Bell” speak the language of hopelessness and despair itself. The record is framed by the recurring movements “ Darkwood I – III”, which feature only a solemn and lonely melody with no accompaniment, and another triptych, also spread across the album, consisting of the tracks “No Place Nowhere”, “Two Or Three Things (for Jean-Luc Godard)”, and “In November”, all of which paint a landscape of bleak gloom with their densely layered chords. Having already been familiar with some of Darling’s other work (such as the similar and also excellent album Darkwood) I impulsively picked up Cello at an obscure record shop here in Ottawa named Sounds Unlikely. This enigmatic and elusive offering from the late great American cellist David Darling, simply titled Cello, is possibly the album I’ve listened to the most in my life, and it left a profound impact on the way I approach the cello as a creative artist and composer. Raphael Weinroth-Browne (cello) David Darling – Cello (1992) The influence that Dusan Bogdanovic and this particular piece have had on my playing is immense, so I highly recommend this album to metal fans interested in the proggier side of classical guitar. After playing this composition now for 15 years, I’m still blown away by its mesmerizing blend of technique, melody and intricate polyrhythms. When my guitar teacher gave me the music for this album’s title track, I kept this advice in mind as I slowly wrapped my hands around a piece I struggled to believe I was capable of learning.
When I first started learning classical guitar I met someone who was studying the instrument in university who he gave me the following advice: “Learn something very easy, then learn something incredibly difficult.”. Woodsmoke by Nestĭusan Bogdanovic – Mysterious Habitats (1995) After nearly two decades Woodsmoke remains a masterclass in both. People often struggle to discern the folk influences in Musk Ox due to our classical instrumentation but to me folk has more to do with the spirit and atmosphere of the music. I still remember being immediately transported by the album artwork the first time I saw it and when I managed to track down a copy of the album I was completely absorbed. Known in part for his early collaboration with Pacific Northwest metal legends Agalloch, Nest remains one of the most unique and captivating dark/nature folk projects. Nathanael Larochette (classical guitar) Nest – Woodsmoke (2003) Get a glimpse of The Anatomy Of Musk Ox below.
We reached out to the members of Musk Ox to pick their brains about the music that inspired such soundscapes, and more deeply, informed their passion with music and their respective instruments. The record is deeply melancholic, atmospheric, and technically intricate. After all this time, we finally have a follow up with Inheritance, which saw release this summer. If you’re unfamiliar, their 2014 opus Woodfall has since become a critically acclaimed classic in the genre, sitting in the Top 40 of all time under the Rate Your Music dark folk charts. It’s been seven long years since we last heard from Canadian chamber folk three-piece Musk Ox.
0 kommentar(er)
