mark mcguire: vdsq – solo acoustic volume two (vdsq)
by christ it’s been a noisy old month what with lightning bolt, entombed, little claw, shit and shine, factums, pelican, isis, gary war, billy bao, drunkdriver all cavorting around my damaged lugholes. therefore it’s time for a break from all this distortion, this ugly racket, this howling and hollering, this mad spastic din. it’s time for something clean, something linear, something harmonious. and that something is this rather soothing piece of acoustica from emeralds fella, mark mcguire.
echoplexed or multitracked or both i dunno, but it’s layered. not in the same huge orgasmic waves way emeralds build their kosmiche om’s. but it’s sparse and light and dare i say it earthly rather than heavenly. somewhere floaty between the takoma schtick and the string picking of popul vuh’s daniel fichelscher (who informs mcguire’s solo stuff as much as emeralds).
starts off basic with some brief bog-standard chord strummery, then builds all arpeggiating sinewave style through my brainspace with gorgeous warm intent. side a is the more settled beast, like some stripped down and restrained james blackshaw. second thoughts has a shimmering twang that reminds me of glass and japan and eno. i’ll leave you to decide what that means.
side b takes this and runs with it. the introductory improv of front porch breeze (and i’d love to hear the full on version of this) and it’s krauty rhythmic string chops sets up the twelve minute psyche folk joy of burning leaves. which unfurls in loops and waves. which indulges in that unwinding emeralds-style electrickerry i dig so much. but it’s kindof deconstructed here. instead of one vibrating everbuilding climax this quietly loops and overlaps and scales and harmonises in a decidedly minty mind-tingling way. like a steel and wood tangerine dream. like emeralds laid bare.
this rather lovely aural object is part of vdsq – vin du select qualitite records – a swanky new acoustic guitar series of old fashioned (but teasingly contemporary), lovingly crafted but limited (when are they not…) vinyl. other releases by mountain home’s joshua blatchley and come / codeine chap chris brokaw.
