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LP
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FTR 802LP
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Eric Arn has mined the nether regions of avant-rock, free improv, drone and psychedelia beginning with the Crystalized Movements in the 1980s, and continuing with Primordial Undermind for over three decades. Eric has released records on a wide range of other labels, including Feeding Tube Records, Stoned to Death, The Lotus Sound, Sloow Tapes, and Ramble Records, among others. Eric has also collaborated with the likes of Tom Carter (Charalambides), Jasmine Pender, Margaret Unknown, and Eyal Maoz. Nearly four years to the date after the release of Higher Order, Eric Arn's previous release for Carbon Records, comes his latest collection of guitar excursions. The songs on fixe Idee have a rolling, rambling guitar feel that builds sonic lattices which drift in the air like steel spiderwebs in the summer sky. The record opens with the American Primitive-esque storytelling saga "Impromptu pour le fantôme," setting the stage for a nice variety of playing and recording styles to follow. The more pastoral tracks "Sunrills" and "Gutbucket" are nicely interspersed with the more raw, lo-fi slide-based joints "Rhyolite" and "Ewigkeitsgasse," each with variations of tipsy tones dancing off the edge of the fretboard to bathe in a swirling concoction of acoustic fantasia. Fixe Idee finally moves back into the Primitive landscape with the "raag Melathys," then the closer, the perfectly titled "Bear," completely unraveled starts with more spastic and experimental Derek Bailey leanings, then eventually settles into more rhythmic patterns, and an exhaling finale. This is a record made by someone whose passion for the guitar as a physical instrument creating sound for enjoyment, and as a catalyst for getting right with the Universe, is deeply evident.
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LP
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FTR 281LP
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"Near the end of his days, John Fahey told me he was sick and tired of solo guitar records. This statement was partly designed to take me aback (as was often his tact), but it was also true. He seemed genuinely bored by most guitar players, especially those who were traveling in the shoes he'd first worn on his own early records. That said, I'm pretty sure he would have loved Eric Arn's Orphic Resonance. The first time I ever saw Eric play was as part of the classic second line-up of Crystalized Movements. He was a monster of raunch-stun binary-functionalism, and this continued as he moved out of New England for forays with the LA/Boston/SF/Austin/Vienna-based Primordial Undermind and California's The Outsideinside. After that, he moved to Austria, where he lives today, and began performing and recording in a more overtly avant-garde direction. The set I caught at 2015's Festival Of Endless Gratitude in Copenhagen was a lovely buzzing, shimmering web of sound. Parts of this new LP are like that, other parts are absolutely different. On Orphic Resonance, Eric moves through vast style fields with absolute surety. He can generate massive drone-throbs that would make even that old crank Fahey smile. He can play with sound sheets in a way that moves even deeper into experimental realms. He can play acoustic fantasia sprawls that would have made Fahey swear. He can throat sing better than John ever did. Making for one hell of a dandy album, and one that has a surprise lurking around each and every corner. This is the first of Eric's solo sides to make it to vinyl, and we sincerely hope there are many more to comes. Discerning listeners are sure to say the same." --Byron Coley, 2016. Edition of 300.
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