Quality: CBR 192 kbps
Label: Lune Music, US
01 Birch Bark
02 How The Hours...
03 Five Hundred Keys
04 Easy To Live
05 Coffee Morning
06 Eglantine
07 Train To Rome
08 Leaf Patches On Sidewalks
09 Sleepless Search
10 Warm Wind And Rain
11 Windows
12 Birch Bark
Credits:
B'eirth (Bee): Vocals, guitar, lute (cittern) , piano, recorder, harmonica (mouth harp), jew's harp, harp (folk harp), xylophone, percussion (sundry percussion),
Seth Eames: telecaster electric guitar
Annabel Lee: viola
Moss (Moses): vocal chorus
Victoria: vocal chorus
Birch Book / In Gowan Ring is the mostly one-man project of B'eirth, or simply "Bee", who plays psychedelic folk music in the tradition of Nick Drake and Donovan. He arrived at the station alone with a guitar case and put on a simple but beautiful and mesmerizing set of songs laced with imagery of his travels and meditations in under populated natural locales.
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The songs, twelve in all, of Birch Book, were recorded in New England from 2002 - 2004. It is interesting to note those 21st Century dates on a recording absent of any of the electronics we generally associate with this dawning century. The effect is much more timeless than dated, however, and the album does make some very nice concessions to electricity, most notably the Telecaster guitar playing of Seth Eames. Along with Annabel Lee on Viola, there is a subtle (of course!) but strong counterpoint to Bee's own acoustic guitar and voice. While the gothic/psychedelic folk sounds of his In Gowan Ring work are still there, the group brings out a decidedly "post-rock" element, though still entirely on the mellow extreme side. Fans of Will Oldham's early Palace recordings might well enjoy the Birch Book album quite a bit. I suppose what that really means is that the British folk influences are blended with some more American ones tinged slightly with country and blues instrumentation. Bee's music is in general very reflective, in Birch Book there seems to be a touch of bittersweet melancholy to this reflection.
9 comments:
hi there - just discovered your blog while searching for older Birch Book - any chance of hearing the first two cdr's, please?
Hi Phil, Yes, but please read Disclaimer (Right Top on this site) first!
Graaf
I love this album. B'eirth is extremely talented. I'm HAVE to find these records.
Thanks very much. What a lovely album - this is my first experience of Birch Book, though I love In Gowan ring. I'll be finding out more. Many thanks for posting. :-)
thanks a lot for the link, awesome music.
B'ee is a true folkish believer with big heart. wanna cry.
greeting from italy. :)
Thank you for sharing this wonderful album! Brilliant!
The oriental-flavoured opener “Birch Book” is breathtaking with a guitar, an harp and tablas creating together a rain effect texture. “How the Hours” is an highlight full of delicate poetry. The snaky and mysterious “Eglantine” with a serpentine electric guitar upon a carpet of acoustic rythmic guitars: a shiny instrumental! The inspired and melancholic “Windows” is far away to be self-indulgent. “Birch Bark” is the closing number: an instrumental track tightly connected with the first track. In fact it seems to be a sort of a natural dissolution of the opening track, a musical “stop raining”. A key to the reading: join “Birch Book” (first track) to “Birch Bark” (last track) and a natural/musical phenomenon in its process of becoming is in front your senses. Join this two extremes and you will obtain a …full circle.
Thank you Graaf for these three gems (vol. 1-3)
Birch Book's music is beautiful and listen to it it's a good occasion for peace of mind. I recommend it!
Many thanks, Graaf!
I've listened through the albums a few days ago, and I'd say that Vol. II & III are even better than the first one.
Looking forward to hearing their latest 2010 album Tomorrow's Sun Will Rise the Same, and I hope you'll post a note about it here here as I've subscribed to new comments on this page.
Once again, big thanks for helping out and keep up the great work. I'll surely check the other stuff on your blog very soon.
Best regards,
C.
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