Reynolds, Ben - Two Wings
SKU
SAAH054
I had never heard of Ben Reynolds until ordering this from the always great Strange Attractors label. This is very beautiful and deep solo guitar music. Personally recommended.
"Glasgow, Scotland guitarist Ben Reynolds has been a prominent player in and contributor to the United Kingdom's fertile underground psych/drone scene for many years. A current member of the long-running and highly influential Ashtray Navigations, Reynolds appears on numerous recordings in the tight-knit UK drone cabal, including those by the venerable Vibracathedral Orchestra and Sunroof, and is also active via his duo project Motor Ghost with Directing Hand's Alex Neilsen. A cascade of solo excursions documenting a fractal of avant-thinking themes are available in limited DIY fashion, while proper pressings are available through Last Visible Dog, Digitalis Industries and Time-Lag. Although Reynolds has touched on acoustic elements in the past, it has mainly been as a textural layer to his psychedelic whirlpools, at which he is so adept. Reynolds puts his electric guitars aside in favor of exploring expressionist acoustic steel string terrain on his astonishing new solo recording Two Wings. Entirely improvised, Two Wings effortlessly weaves shimmering melodic lines together to form spontaneous compositions of dazzling depth and clarity. Incorporating a variety of pacing techniques with his fingerpicking style, Reynolds explores a linearity that harkens back to the American ragas of Robbie Basho, while exposing Middle Eastern influences much like the acoustic trickery of Sir Richard Bishop. The last tune on Two Wings is a written composition, utterly graceful yet striking in its similarities to the spontaneous compositions, underlying the lyrical quality in Reynold's music making. Two Wings is a remarkably unique, non-traditional take on the steel string tradition from a budding musical talent. The CD is housed in a deluxe recycled cardstock package featuring offset printing by Stumptown Printers."