Darin Gray & Loren Connors - The Lost Mariner

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5...according to our Brett on Thu 11 Feb, 2010.

I spent much of last weekend listening to Loren Connors' stunning triple CD set Night Through and now I've got his 1999 collaboration with Darin Gray (ex of Dazzling Killmen and Yona Kit, amongst others) to review. What a coincidence! Weird beard! Twilight Zonez! Etc! The improv generally takes shape with Gray offering sparse thunder and setting the scene for our guitar hero's slow burning melancholy as he makes his trusty Strat cry little electric tears predominantly formed from the purest of tones. There's a little reverb and the occasional dabble with wah-wah (which really shouldn't work in this context but does, perfectly) but generally these emotions are created via pure craftsmanship. An excellent record that evokes its titular theme with beauty and depth.. Bonus 7" into the bargain too...

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Just past 10 years ago this debut collaboration between primitive American blues guitarist Loren Connors and the confounding electric bassist Darin Gray was issued on CD. The Lost Mariner was the first in a pair of releases by the upstart Family Vineyard label. Now with a decade of hindsight and a nod to looking ahead, here is a a 700 edition LP reissue of the studio session considered by Connors to be one of his finest. Since this album's 1999 release Connors has released a series of sorrowful solo albums and multi-disc collections on Family Vineyard while Gray formed the cinematic On Fillmore (with Wilco’s Glen Kotche) and continued collaborations with Jim O'Rourke, Akira Sakata, Chris Corsano and others. The Lost Mariner is an improvised dialogue between these two musicians. Structure is there, but it roams as it sways, constantly adjusting and reinventing itself as the two react to its mysterious design. For this reissue the LP is sleeved inside stunning cover art (an Albert Pinkham Ryder painting) and contains the bonus At The Old Factory 7-inch.

Tracklisting : LP : Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 / 7” At The Old Factory Part 1, Part 2.

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