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CD
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ESPDISK 5075CD
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Buck Curran says: "The foundation of this recording is the musical chemistry between Jodi Pedrali and myself. Jodi and I had been playing music together since 2017 and the band we assembled for this session, centered around the idea of having London native Dave Barbarossa play drums with us. Dave Barbarossa (Bow Wow Wow and Adam Ant) was my favorite drummer during my formative years playing guitar in high school. Dave and I first met over a pint in London (in Soho) in April of 2022. We talked about fatherhood and life, but mostly about music. It was wonderful to discover that he shared my love for the music of Pentangle. Soon after that meeting, we started discussing the idea of recording a Live session in the manner of some of the performances of Pentangle that we had watched on my cell phone in the pub. And so, once Dave agreed to fly to Bergamo to record with me and Jodi -- to round out the session we recruited the brilliant Italian singer Adele Pappalardo and bass player Robert Frassini Moneta. 'Black Is the Colour' is quite a different arrangement of this traditional Scottish-American folk song and features Adele singing lead vocals. The arrangement started with the bass line I wrote (influenced a bit by Danny Thompson's work with Pentangle). This track is one of the cornerstones of the new record and was recorded mostly improvised in one take. The essence of what we documented on this record is the energy of a quickly assembled group who had never played together before, and due to time restrictions, we arranged parts and rehearsed for only a few hours the day before entering the studio. All the songs performed by the band were recorded in the studio by Marco Fasolo as a 'Live' session (4, 5, and 6 July 2022) -- the tracks we used were from first or second take performances (Jodi and I really wanted to capture the energy of playing music together Live in the same space). I can hear things got a little loose in places, but overall we were really happy with how we all played together and grateful for recording the energy of that moment during those fleeting summer days in 2022." This is a co-release by Curran's Obsolete Recordings and ESP-Disk.
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ESPDISK 5056CD
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No Love Is Sorrow is the third solo album by American singer-songwriter-guitarist Buck Curran. The album's primary influence draws upon personal experience, along with an idiosyncratic musical style developed over many years as a solo artist and member of the psych-folk duo Arborea. The album presents a body of soundscapes... acoustic and electric instrumentals, psychedelic poetic folk songs... compositions inspired by visions of the surreal landscapes of life: love, hope, loss, fear, transformation, the light of expecting a newborn child, dreams, the realization of impermanence with the recent losses of family members and friends. Further inspiration was drawn from music as wide-ranging as experimental music, '60s, and '70s folk and psychedelic blues-rock, jazz, Western classical music, and Indian classical music. "Ghost on the Hill", "Deep in the Lovin' Arms of My Babe", "Odissea", and "One Evening" are very personal songs that include lyrical themes of love, memories, and fear: "Ghost on the Hill" is a haunting and poetic memoir of life past, "One Evening" (in the poetic style of Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma, I'm Only Bleeding") is a harrowing statement charged with scenes of contemporary life: love and hope, uncertainty and fear created by society, technology, and politics. "Blue Raga", "No Love Is Sorrow", "Marie", "For Adele", and "Chromaticle", and "Lucia" are experimental tone poems created through improvisation on acoustic guitar. "Django (New Years Day)" is Curran's debut on piano inspired by the music of Claude Debussy and Erik Satie. CD version includes six additional tracks; includes "Lucia", an experimental tone poem created through acoustic guitar improvisation, "War Behind the Sun", a searing psychedelic electric guitar instrumental, and four alternate versions.
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LP
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ESPDISK 5056LP
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LP version. No Love Is Sorrow is the third solo album by American singer-songwriter-guitarist Buck Curran. The album's primary influence draws upon personal experience, along with an idiosyncratic musical style developed over many years as a solo artist and member of the psych-folk duo Arborea. The album presents a body of soundscapes... acoustic and electric instrumentals, psychedelic poetic folk songs... compositions inspired by visions of the surreal landscapes of life: love, hope, loss, fear, transformation, the light of expecting a newborn child, dreams, the realization of impermanence with the recent losses of family members and friends. Further inspiration was drawn from music as wide-ranging as experimental music, '60s, and '70s folk and psychedelic blues-rock, jazz, Western classical music, and Indian classical music. "Ghost on the Hill", "Deep in the Lovin' Arms of My Babe", "Odissea", and "One Evening" are very personal songs that include lyrical themes of love, memories, and fear: "Ghost on the Hill" is a haunting and poetic memoir of life past, "One Evening" (in the poetic style of Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma, I'm Only Bleeding") is a harrowing statement charged with scenes of contemporary life: love and hope, uncertainty and fear created by society, technology, and politics. "Blue Raga", "No Love Is Sorrow", "Marie", "For Adele", and "Chromaticle", and "Lucia" are experimental tone poems created through improvisation on acoustic guitar. "Django (New Years Day)" is Curran's debut on piano inspired by the music of Claude Debussy and Erik Satie.
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ESPDISK 5028LP
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LP version. On Buck Curran's second solo album, Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas, the emphasis switches to acoustic guitar, as compared to his first solo album, Immortal Light (ESPDISK 5014CD/LP, 2016). Side A, all solo acoustic instrumentals, seems to have fallen out of a wormhole emanating from Takoma Records in the 1970s. There's some of that on side B as well, but there are also vocals and other instruments, sometimes overdubbed, and the dedication of "Taurus" to Peter Green, guitarist extraordinaire of the original lineup of Fleetwood Mac (when they were a blues band), hinting at the breadth of Curran's influences. The introduction of other timbres and textures doesn't diminish the intimate, almost meditational mood, though. Co-released by ESP-Disk' and Curran's own Obsolete Recordings. Personnel: Buck Curran - vocals, guitars, harmonium, flute, banjo; Adele Pappalardo - vocals on "Dirt Floor". Mastering by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering.
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ESPDISK 5028CD
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On Buck Curran's second solo album, Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas, the emphasis switches to acoustic guitar, as compared to his first solo album, Immortal Light (ESPDISK 5014CD/LP, 2016). Side A, all solo acoustic instrumentals, seems to have fallen out of a wormhole emanating from Takoma Records in the 1970s. There's some of that on side B as well, but there are also vocals and other instruments, sometimes overdubbed, and the dedication of "Taurus" to Peter Green, guitarist extraordinaire of the original lineup of Fleetwood Mac (when they were a blues band), hinting at the breadth of Curran's influences. The introduction of other timbres and textures doesn't diminish the intimate, almost meditational mood, though. Co-released by ESP-Disk' and Curran's own Obsolete Recordings. Personnel: Buck Curran - vocals, guitars, harmonium, flute, banjo; Adele Pappalardo - vocals on "Dirt Floor"; Nicolò Melocchi - Bansuri flute on "Bhairavi Rovelli". Mastering by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering. CD version includes five additional tracks. "Crucible" is an archival recording made in the Summer of 2000, showing the development of Curran's musical style.
"Guitar tones linger and reverberate with a mystical translucence" --Dusted.
"Curran's music invokes swarming natural forces, looking for the borderline between the real and the sublime and, maybe, the supernatural." --Jesse Jarnow, Relix
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ESPDISK 5014LP
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160-gram DMM LP version. Limited edition of 350. Includes download code. Immortal Light is the debut solo album by psychedelic folk guitarist-singer-songwriter Buck Curran. Since 2005, Curran has recorded and performed as one half of the psych-folk duo Arborea. To date, Arborea has released five albums, including 2013's ESP-Disk' release Fortress of the Sun (ESPDISK 5002CD/LP). Curran's music has developed through a decade of playing with Arborea, and the experience of playing blues and folk throughout the 1990s. He also draws inspiration from the deep well of folk and rock of the 1960s (Robbie Basho, Tim Buckley, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman), American blues and folk music of the 1930s, British folk and psychedelic folk rock of the '60s and early '70s (Peter Green, Sandy Denny, The Pentangle, Davey Graham, Nick Drake, Led Zeppelin, Martin Simpson), Indian classical music (Pandit Nikhil Banerjee), and jazz of the '50s and '60s (Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane). Bob Boilen, the host of NPR's All Songs Considered, listed Arborea among his favorite concerts and recommended live acts in 2012. Arborea's fourth album, Red Planet, was released in 2011 to critical acclaim, appearing in Rolling Stone's "The Best Under-the- Radar Albums of 2011" (selected by David Fricke) and Uncut's "Top 100 Albums of 2011" and taking the "Editors Top Pick" in the December 2011 issue of Guitar Player Magazine. Fortress of the Sun appeared in AllMusic's "Favorite Folk Albums of 2013" and "Favorite Singer/Songwriter Albums of 2013" lists, as well as Acoustic Guitar Magazine's "Best Acoustic Albums of 2013" and the "Best of Echoes 2013 Listener Poll" -- and in 2014 Paste included Arborea as one of "Nine Maine Bands You Should Listen to Now," part of the magazine's "50 States Project." Immortal Light features Buck Curran on vocals, guitars, harmonium, flute, and banjo; Shanti Deschaine contributes backup vocals on "New Moontide" and "Bad Moon Rising," and lead vocals and harmonium on "Immortal Light."
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CD
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ESPDISK 5014CD
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Immortal Light is the debut solo album by psychedelic folk guitarist-singer-songwriter Buck Curran. Since 2005, Buck has recorded and performed as one half of the psych-folk duo Arborea. To date, Arborea has released five albums, including 2013's ESP-Disk' release Fortress of the Sun (ESPDISK 5002CD/LP). Buck's music has developed through a decade of playing with Arborea, and the experience of playing blues and folk throughout the 1990s. He also draws inspiration from the deep well of folk and rock of the 1960s (Robbie Basho, Tim Buckley, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman), American blues and folk music of the 1930s, British folk and psychedelic folk/rock of the '60s and early '70s (Peter Green, Sandy Denny, The Pentangle, Davey Graham, Nick Drake, Led Zeppelin, Martin Simpson), Indian classical music (Pandit Nikhil Banerjee), and jazz of the '50s and '60s (Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane). Bob Boilen, the host of NPR's All Songs Considered, listed Arborea among his favorite concerts and recommended live acts in 2012. Arborea's fourth album, Red Planet, was released in 2011 and received critical praise making: David Fricke's Rolling Stone "Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011", Guitar Player Magazine Editors "Top Pick", Uncut "Top 100 Albums of 2011", etc. Fortress of the Sun made AllMusic's "Favorite Folk Albums of 2013" and "Favorite Singer/Songwriter Albums of 2013", Acoustic Guitar's "Best Acoustic Albums of 2013", Best of Echoes 2013 Listener Poll, etc. Paste also listed Arborea in their profile of top musical acts in Maine for their "50 States Project". Personnel: vocals, guitars, harmonium, flute, banjo - Buck Curran; Backup vocals on "New Moontide" and "Bad Moon Rising". Featured lead vocals and harmonium on "Immortal Light." - Shanti Deschaine.
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