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LP
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FTR 624LP
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Limited restock, last copies. "Another wonderful album by this Swedish-based guitarist/carpenter. This is the fourth (and I believe final, at least for now) addition to Collin's series of site-based outdoor recordings. The first three (FTR 399LP, FTR 418LP, and FTR 534LP) were stellar examples of Jon's finger-thinking, and this one is as well. He seems to have embraced a romantic form of melodicism over the course of these albums, contrasting with some of the harsher blues evocations he's explored recently. And as much as I enjoy everything Jon plays, there is something very special and satisfying about his more overt beauty-motion. There are four compact pieces on the first side. These have a certain hint of John Renbourn's attack, but with a more harmonically scrambled bent and a soupçon of the quiet, wordless vocalizing Collin has added to other tunes in the Water & Rock sequence. As has been noted, these share a bit of conceptual similarity to Loren Connors's earliest solo works, but Jon manages to remove the violence that seemed to animate Loren for a while. Perhaps one distinction is the setting for the recordings themselves -- near the water, outdoors in the sunlight of Stockholm, rather than in a freezing, abandoned warehouse in New Haven -- but I do not want to infer that either of these artists is unable to transcend physical realities in quest of sonic truth. Still, it's a question I might ask them both. There's some slide work in evidence here, but it's balanced by plenty of finger picking. And each of the four pieces on side one (all entitled "Nothing") has a distinct approach to sustained tones, some of which evoke memories of Fahey for me. The long piece on the flip is called "The Stream of the Consciousness (Prelude)," and it's lovely through-and-through. Melodies are slowly unbound and savored before they gradually mutate into new aural visions or gentle, exploratory splendor. The only thing missing is your own big fat head! Hop to!" --Byron Coley, 2022
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LP
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ROWF 041LP
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"The most obvious influence on [Collin's] playing seems to be Loren Connors. He manifests the same strange bluesy attack on strings at many moments here -- letting notes breathe for a while, then strangling them until they squeak shut. One also notes some of Fahey's long open slide chords, but clearly his melodic resolutions are closer to Fahey's late period work, even if his technique is more reminiscent of Fare Forward Voyagers or something. There is also a scent of Jim O'Rourke's brilliant acoustic responses to questions posed by Derek Bailey. Indeed, while this might seem to be heady company for a guy recording his debut LP, I feel as though the comparisons fit." --Byron Coley; Following the release of his incredible debut LP on Winebox Press, Jon Collin took to the road in the U.S. alongside fellow soul travelers Yek Koo, Chalaque and Zaimph. The highpoint (in myriad senses) came on a Monday night in Albany, NY, where Collin performed to a seated and incredibly blazed audience in the basement of The Helderberg House, where he ended a night of heavy reverie with a blasted, drawn-out, super-sparse set of creaking drum stool and glorious string tone flashes. All in attendance were mesmerized and utterly rapturous as each piece concluded -- staggered by the weight of what they were witnessing and for which they had not been prepared by the endless craft ale, pizza and bongloads. There's something of the magical about this record. Limited to 250 copies on 140 gram vinyl.
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