In Gowan Ring - Sial at Play / The Serpent and the Dove (single) - 2015

Quality: FLAC (tracks, CUE)

01 Sial at Play (Alternate / Single Version)
02 The Serpent and the Dove (Non Album Track)

Emma Skemp: baroque flute
Geoge Boerner: viola
Maya Fridman: cello
B'ee: voice, guitar, bowed bells
Joel Munther: viola bass

released November 21, 2015

NOTE:
'Sial at Play' is from the poem of the same title by Shaun Johnson, published in Mandragora by Scarlet Imprint.

SUPERB & RARE SINGLE

In Gowan Ring - The Serpent And The Dove - 2015

Quality: FLAC (tracks, CUE)
2015, Les Disques du 7eme Ciel, 7C12D, France

01 The Serpent
02 Thousands Of Bees
03 Sial At Play
04 Julia Willow
05 Set A Candle In The Night
06 Field Of Dream
07 A Song, A Story And A Stone
08 The Dove

B'ee:
Voice, Spanish Guitar, Piano, Organ, Guitar, Dulcimer, Oboe, Bowed Bells, Drum, Choir,
Jaw Harp, Percussion, Bells, Animism & Elementals, Electric Guitar, Bowls, Specters

Track 02:
Oneiric Observation – Iida OjanperäViola, Georg Börner
Track 03:
Baroque Flute, Voice – Emma Skemp
Track 06:
Nyckelharpa – Georg Börner

All I want to said is too little about this magnificent Album, one of the best of all time.

Recommended straight from the heart.

In Gowan Ring - Birch Book - Taking Wing / Jacob Fleet (single) - 2014

Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Vinyl 7” Single, Les Disques du 7eme Ciel 7C8, France

01 Taking Wing (as In Gowan Ring) Mark Fry/The A. Lords cover
02 Jacob Fleet (as Birch Book) And Also The Trees cover

Credits:
Voice, guitars, mellotron, flutes, organ, bowed glockenspiel, drum, tubular bells Bobin Jon Michael Eirth

Recorded and mixed at die Graefehütte, Berlin, Germany.

Bobin Jon Michael Eirth is the man behind In Gowan Ring and Birch Book. Since the mid 90s, this prolific American singer-songwriter has recorded a dozen full-length albums.

On this 7", Eirth gives his very own folk take on two tracks that he loves:

- Taking Wing is a cover of a song by Mark Fry, the legendary English psychedelic folk musician. It appeared at the end of I Lived in Trees, a truly beautiful album that Fry recorded with The A. Lords.
B’ee - Voice, Acoustic Guitar, Mellotron flutes, Organ, Bowed Glockenspiel.

- Jacob Fleet is a cover of a song by English post-punk band And Also The Trees. It was taken from their synth-infused album Green Is The Sea.
B’ee - Voice, Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Mellotron Strings, Drum, Tubular Bells.

Notes:
01 Written by Mark Fry, Nicholas Palmer & Michael Tanner
02 Written by Simon Huw Jones, Steven Burrows, Nick Havas & Justin Jones

It is a Limited Edition release, with just 100 copies available (50 red sleeves and 50 black sleeves), and comes in a recycled gray cardstock silk-printed sleeve. Sleeve Design Damian O'Hara.

Birch Book - Birch Book EP - 2011

Quality: CBR 128 kbps (sorry no better copy available)

Label: Vinyl 10" + EP CD, Les Disques du 7ème Ciel, 7C2, France

01 Life's Lace

02 Le Temps De Vivre

03 La Chanson De Prévert

04 Son Du Soleil

05 Les Feuilles Mortes

06 Vent D'Automne

Credits:

Brier Nitz: backing vocals

Ron Walker: harmonium

B'ee: vocals, guitars & arrangements

Composed By – B'ee (04,06), Joseph Kosma (05)

Written And Composed By – B'ee (01), Georges Moustaki (02), Serge Gainsbourg (03)

Written By – B'ee, Carole Chiaramonti (04), B'ee, Damien Loret (06), Jacques Prévert (05)

Artwork Sleeve: Damian O'Hara 

Notes:

Vinyl & CD Limited Edition 

Aware of B'ee's interest in French language and culture, Les Disques du 7ème Ciel suggested that they collaborate on the release of a record based on French song.

Great EP, recomendation straight from the heart.

Birch Book - Tomorrow's Sun Will Rise The Same CDr - 2010

Quality: CBR 128 kbps (sorry no better copy available)

Label: Not On Label - Self-released, CD-r Limited Edition

01 Tomorrow's Sun Arises (B'ee)

02 Day For Night (Gene Clark)

03 Clothes Of Sand (Nick Drake)

04 Good Feeling (Gordon Gano)

05 The Stag (Angelo Branduardi)

06 Blessed Wild Apple Girl (Marc Bolan)

07 Silver Dagger (Traditional)

08 Ballad Of Easy Rider (Roger McGuinn)

09 A Little Bit Of Rain (Fred Neil)

10 Houses (Elyse Weinberg)

11 Corners Of My Life (Pac, Rycroft, McClellan)

12 Tomorrow's Sun Sets (B'ee)

Credits:

B'ee: renditions / arrangements

Sofie Kline: backing vocals (10)  

Gillian Hall: backing vocals (11)

Heather Comforto: cover patch

Méreau Woods: liner notes

Jacob Yvon-Leroux, Ron Walker: photography

Notes:

Traditional & Cover Songs, Recorded January, February & March 

Released Spring Equinox 2010 

Limited edition, signed album in handmade packaging sold directly through B'eirth to help fund Birch Book's 2010 European tour.

Superb album as always, some great rendition of song we well know from the past time. 
Very recommended (even if low bitrate), not to be missed this one!

Silver Dagger version is most beautiful ever!!!

Especially to my friend Kontaminacija!

Birch Book with Annelies Monseré - Tangles Of The Vine (VPRO Session) - 2005

Quality: CBR 192 kbps
Label: CD-r, sold through the artist

01 Christina's Song
02 New Song
03 Song Of The Nightingale
04 The Wandering Boy
05 Aurora
06 Train To Rome
07 Warm Wind And Rain
08 Young Souls
09 New Joy

Live session in the studios of Dutch broadcaster VPRO, August 2, 2005

Credits:
Composed By - B'ee (tracks: 2 to 4, 6 to 9)
Engineer - Berry Kamer
Lyrics By - B'ee (tracks: 5) , Blair Grant (tracks: 5) , Christina Rossetti (tracks: 1)
Recorded By - Berry Kamer
Annelies sings on several tracks recorded during a radiosession for VPRO.

Notes:
Single take performances recorded and engineered by Berry Kamer for "De Avonden" on VPRO, Amsterdam, Holland.
This is the CDr edition, whereof only a few copies were sold through the artist.
CDr housed in foldout cartonbox-slipcase.

Very intimate and beautiful release, recommended!

Nick Castro - Live 2004 & 2005 (Solo and with Friends) CDr - 2005

Quality: CBR 192 kbps (incl. covers)
Label: Records Of Gauhd, RoGCD 05, US

01 Unborn Child
(Recorded at Strange Maine, Portland, ME)
02 To This Earth
(Recorded at Glass House, Brooklyn, NY)
03 Sun Song
04 Unborn Child
05 Deep The Sea
(Recorded at The Khyber, Philadelphia, PA)
06 Deep The Sea
07 No Sweeter Thing
08 Jack Of All Seasons
(Recorded at WMBR, Cambridge, MA)

Credits:
Nick Castro: vocal, guitar
with additional musicians:
Helena Espvall - flute, cello
Otto Hauser - dumbek, daf, electric guitar, shruti
B'eirth - whistle
Chrystopher (Chris) Smith - bass

Notes:
This is a tour and mail-order only release / Limited Edition CDr

Beautiful...

Birch Book - Vol. III - A Hand Full Of Days - 2009

Quality: CBR 192 kbps
Label: Little Somebody Records, LSR 11, US (Standard Letterpress Edition)

01 Birch Leaves
02 Feet Of Clay
03 Empty Corner Of The Page
04 Left Hand
05 Patchwork Woman
06 Stray Summer Song
07 Hatched In Stone
08 Sad Song
09 Nothing More
10 White Angel
11 Right Hand
12 Life's Lace
13 Will Of The Wind (Written By: Lincoln Lysager)
14 Birch Leaves

Credits:
Subhadra: chorus
Pascal Humbert: bowed contrabass, electric bass guitar
Ron Walker: hammond organ, pedal steel guitar
B'ee: voice, guitar, piano, harmonica, sundry instruments

Notes:
Third in the Birch Book series, 'A Hand Full of Days' represents the culmination of a bizarre journey through 'That High Lonesome Path'.
Recorded through the years of 2006-2009 in the American Northwest: Portland, Astoria, Naselle & San Juan Island.

In a word, this is superb album as always – recommended!

Birch Book - Vol. II Fortune & Folly - 2006

Quality: CBR 192 kbps
Label: Helmet Room Recordings, US

01 Birch Sap
02 New Song
03 Whisper In The Pine
04 Young Souls
05 New Joy
06 Diaspora
07 The Wandering Boy
08 Zephyr Through Willows
09 The Trip Goes On
10 The Carnival Is Empty
11 Birch Sap

Credits:
B'ee: voice, guitar, artwork by (layout, lettering & tarot renditions)
Joshua Blanchard: chorus
Molly Blanchard: chorus

Recorded on San Juan Island off the rugged coasts of the Olympic Northwest, Fortune & Folly is the fitting second volume of Birch Book. Assuming the allegorical emblems of The Wheel of Fortune and The Traveling Fool, Fortune & Folly distill the introspections of a perennial rambler reckoning "the Bitter and the Bliss" of The Road Less Traveled. Drifting away from the overtly psychedelic, medieval, and soporific atmosphere which typified In Gowan Ring, B'ee displays a more organic, individualistic approach to songwriting. Fortune & Folly blends elements of idiosyncratic folk-pop and outcast-country with brooding layers of sound and sense, yielding a spectral ethereality in a captivating chiaroscuro thick with the visionary allusions of a haunted wanderer bent upon a mythic path....
Favorable comparisons are commonly drawn with classics such as Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake as well as contemporary "rural-folk" such as Will Oldham and Iron & Wine.

Variously labeled 'Wyrd', 'Psychedelic' or 'Avant Folk', In Gowan Ring extend roots into poetic-folk traditions while cultivating an inimitable, self-attuned writing style that prefigured the "New-Psyche-Folke" movement. As poet, pilgrim, progenitor of wyrd-folk and maestro of In Gowan Ring, Jon Michael B'eirth (otherwise B'ee) has developed a homespun sonic tapestry with peculiar richness of vision; recording over ten full length albums and performing throughout North America & Europe in veritable itinerant fashion amidst a dozen years against the grain. As well as composing the original material for Birch Book & In Gowan Ring, B'ee collects renditions of traditional songs and builds many of the acoustic instruments featured in performances and recordings such as the recent "lyre-guitar" & "leaf cittern." Though largely self-taught, he has didactically studied the music of the Trouvères and Troubadours, the counterpoint of the High Renaissance, and modern orchestration.

B'eirth has been busy. Only about a year after the release of Birch Book's debut album, he presents his second one. Those who've heard the first album probably know what to expect, as will those who bought the live EP Tangles of the Vine. Birch Book looks to be B'ee's outlet for singer/songwriter and americana feelings, and we're not disappointed here. "New Song", "Young Souls", "New Joy", they're all examplary of his newfound relaxed vibe. That also includes the new track "Whisper in the Pine", one of his finest yet when it comes to this country-like style.
But B'ee is always full of surprises. The mysterious intro "Birch Sap" should have tipped me off that something different was coming. Defying my expectations, he delivers tracks like "Diaspora" and "Zephyr through Willows": dark, misty songs that call to mind Marissa Nadler's gloomy style.

The theme of the album - as expressed by the Tarot images of The Wheel of Fortune and The Fool - is the spirit of wandering. Of packing up your stuff, leaving everything behind and setting out into an unknown future. This is displayed quite powerfully in "The Trip Goes On", which ends in manipulated distortion, and a minute of near-silence. As if the whole album is a preamble to "The Carnival is Empty". It might as well be, for this track alone makes the album more than worthwhile. Like in that other marvellous song, Dead Can Dance's "The Carnival Is Over", carnivals seem to lend themselves best to songs when empty, dead, gone and over (remember Current 93's "The Carnival is Dead and Gone"?). Never mind the lyrical parallels. This song is a breathtakingly beautiful, melancholic conclusion of this album's theme. B'ee shows himself from a totally new side and proves at the same time that he keeps growing as an artist.

This is a brilliant album, and one of this year's highlights for all lovers of folk music in the broadest sense.
Obviously, it's a must have for everyone who likes In Gowan Ring or Birch Book.
B'eirth is truly one of the greatest songsmiths of our days.

Birch Book - Vol. I Birch Book - 2005

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.

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.