David Daniell & Douglas McCombs

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Customer reviews
Press release

3...according to our Clinton on Thu 03 Sep, 2009.

I often seem to get Tortoise related things to review. I barely know anything about the band except for liking that record everyone likes. Anyway what I have here in my grubby little paws is an LP by David Daniell and Douglas McCombs called 'Sycamore' which also containsJohn Herndon from said band. It starts out with lovely guitar loops but is soon ruined by an alaming electric guitar solo. I once saw Jim O'Rourke and Loren Conors do an entire set of this type of stuff 'in concert' and was horrified. In my mind in any kind of ambient music the guitar should not have distortion on it otherwise its just too much like a cut up Eric Clapton solo. Thankfully on this release the electric guitar is soon discarded for a spanish sounding acoustic one which is much much nicer. The background ambience and loops are gorgeous. The rest of the record follows a similar pattern, the twiddling is just not for me - though may appeal to fans of a lot of the 'freak folk' thats out there at the moment- yet the background sounds are uniformly gorgeous. That said it is kept to a minimum particularly on the more blissed out final track which features Herndon's scattershot drums alongside some delicious drones and unusual lap steel guitars which are used to stunning effect.

David Daniell and Douglas McCombs first met in early 2006 while touring as members of
Rhys Chatham's six-guitar Die Donnergötter band.

Over the years, Daniell has collaborated with many notable musicians, including Loren
Connors, Rhys Chatham, Tim Barnes, Jeph Jerman, Thurston Moore, Greg Davis, and
Jonathan Kane, as well as releasing numerous albums under his own name and with his
band San Agustin on labels such as Table Of The Elements and Family Vineyard.

McCombs is more often seen wielding a bass guitar, whether as a member of Eleventh
Dream Day, the acoustic collective Pullman, or the pioneering and inimitable Tortoise; in
his role as the driving force behind Brokeback; or through his varied work with the likes of
Tom Ze, Azita Youseffi, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, and Calexico.

‘Sycamore’ is the first album to document the music of this duo. The album was recorded
by Jeremy Lemos (of Semaphore Recordings), and the duo approached these live
recordings as raw material which they subsequently edited, arranged, and recomposed (with
a nod to Teo Macero’s work on Miles Davis’ ‘In A Silent Way’ and ‘Bitches Brew’ and
the work of the French musique concrète masters) into entirely new musical constructions.

The final edits and mixes were performed with John McEntire at his Soma
Electronic Music Studios in Chicago.

In live settings, the duo of Daniell on electric guitar and McCombs on electric guitar and lapsteel
is often expanded into a trio via the addition of a drummer. ‘Sycamore’ features three
highly respected Drummers: Frank Rosaly, John Herndon (Tortoise) and Steven Hess
(Pamn American, Hapic On, Nemeth).

‘Sycamore’ is a delicate tapestry of spacious and ethereal guitar lines woven into
abstract, slow-burning and multi-layered textural improvisations. The sounds blend
and overlap to create richly faceted and thickly psychedelic passages, unveiling new layers of
detail with each and every listen.

‘Sycamore’ is available on deluxe limited edition CD (100 copies) and LP with a
digital download coupon (50 copies). Both formats feature artwork by illustrator and
painter Arik Roper (Sleep, Earth, Om, Earthless).

Tracklisting:

F# Song
Bursera
The Deshabille
Vejer De La Fontera