BLAINE TODD - DILLINGHAM
littlefield 2015, edition of 50
"Dillingham takes its name from a small town on Alaska's Bristol Bay—a town disconnected from the state road system and accessible only by plane or boat. In 2011 I helped my friend build a small cabin 20 miles or so from town. I learned a lot about community in that short time and I think about this place as a pinnacle experience. This record is a significant departure from the my other work in Common Eider, King Eider; Andrew Weathers and the Real Life Rock & Roll Band; and Ecstatic Music Band. It's song-y. I used to do song music but one day I forgot how and started doing experimental music. My hope is that this record marks the beginning of a synthesis of these two worlds."
DILLINGHAM opens with a fluttering acoustic guitar rising from a bed of static like a crackling fire illuminating a slice of humble life before dawn, then the sun rises with an old timey tune lofting a sing-while-you-work-hard vibe that evaporates into a solemn transcenental dirge like the ghost of DOCK BOGGS meets BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON against an ominous drone backdrop, then it meanders through some acid fried appalachian folk ballads that display a nice juxtaposition of tradition and experimentation attuned to folks like HENRY FLYNT and MATT VALENTINE, similar to GLOVER/PERREAULT's FREIGHT 1110 THROUGH GREENSBORO (via FULL SPECTRUM no less), elevating alongside a host of heady contemporary outsider folk arists like JAKOB OLAUSSON, SIX ORGANS, TUCKER THEODORE and WOODEN WAND - sometimes more distinctly channeling old school outsiders like MICHAEL CHAPMAN and JERRY JEFF WALKER at their most soberingly intimate - this tape is absolutely incredible, a stone cold masterpiece
street date is next month but you can pre-order now along with the rest of the new batch - SETH CHRISMAN & NATHAN MCLAUGHLIN and RIN LARPING - sleep at your own risk
full stream here on BLAINE TODD's bandcamp, oh man watch out for one two punch of "when i die" and "i sense death"
