Chapters / Dean McPhee

Customer reviews
Press release

New label to Forte for 09: The World in Winter label release their latest split 7, featuring a slice of experimental folk-drone from Chapters and the debut release from the psych folk guitar genius that is Dean McPhee(Sideways through Sound). Taking his inspiration from a broad range of influences - Psychedelic and Post Rock, Mali Blues, Minimalism, Krautrock, British Folk, Bluegrass and Moroccan Trance Dean McPhee uses his Telecaster, valve amp and analog effects to create hypnotically powerful electric guitar pieces that leave audiences transfixed and transported(Radio Starlion). Recorded in one take, Water Burials understated finger-picking and shimmering guitar tone create a tidal rhythm, as each note trails off into space. Meanwhile on side AA, Chapters follow up 2007s EP1 with The Whiteness of the Whale, five minutes of drawn out experimentalism, layered over an incessant kick-drum and gentle guitar riff. Dean started gigging as a solo guitarist in early 2007, supporting Meg Baird (Espers), David Thomas Broughton, Jeniferever, Sharon Van Etten, Xela, David A. Jaycock, Dan Haywoods New Hawks and Sam and the Plants, playing Hedgefest and the Lost in the Woods festival. Water Burial, with its insidious rhythm, is a beautiful introduction to Deans sound, opening the way for a full-length album in 2009. The Chapters lads - Old Derbyshire school friends Mike Brooks, James Rutledge and Jimmy Wright - continue their leisurely approach to recording sessions, allowing their musical output to grow up from the eclectic post-folk instrumentalism of earlier releases. The Whiteness of the Whale still has the naive guitar thrums of EP1 but foregrounds the experimentalism hinted at in tracks like All That Mighty Heart and Tenon, fusing underwater moog, panned organ sounds and random electric bleeps with trademark guitar parts to create a pulsing anthemic crescendo-like track. Dean McPhee will be playing at Silver Apples in Manchester, 29th January, with support from Sam and the Plants (Twisted Nerve) and Magpahi (Bird recordings). Limited edition.

5...according to Andrew.

Dean McPhee's 'Water Burial' combines a beautiful, folkish melody and great electric guitar tone with effects that sound like decaying trails of saturated tape echo. It's a very memorable and majestic piece of music that sticks in the mind long after you have heard it. Chapters' 'The Whiteness of the Whale' is a unique piece that continues the watery theme. Beeping distress signals and an unusual chopped up guitar sample roll by over a sparse kick drum and the analog overtones of a droning synth. A nicely paced and quite engrossing piece of digital psych folk.Overall it's an really nice little piece of vinyl and well recommended for fans of the more unusual end of the psych folk spectrum. It's the kind of thing that works well in the small hours of the night when everything's silent and you can really listen to the little details in the sounds.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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