Loren Connors - Moonyean

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3...according to our Clinton on Fri 11 Feb, 2011.

I once watched in amazement as Loren Connors and Jim O'Rourke guitar-wanked themselves to death in front of horrified onlookers at a gig in London at 1996. I was surprised as I'd enjoyed both of their music off and on for some time. The first track I listened to here reminds me of that tragic day. Connors distorting his guitars and doing his best Eddie Van Halen impersonation. Thankfully by track two he's got it out of his system and the usual pastoral calm of his records is restored. This of course is a good thing. For the uninitiated Connors is like an American Vini Reilly, a guitarist of wonderful precision and technique who is at his best when he keeps things simple. This is a re-issue from 1994 and is simply guitar. The music is gentle and relaxed but you are often forced to ask the question, where does the pastoral charm of this end and the fret-wank of Mark Knopfler begin? Its a fine line and Connors straddles it to worrying effect. I'd prefer more of the under water sounding evocations he has produced but all that said this is a historical document and not a new release, its limited to 500 and collectors of his work will want to get hold of it pronto.

In 1994, after the Hell's Kitchen Park album and Mother & Son 7” ep had come out, a semi-sequel to the latter was released by Table of the Elements in the form of a 7-inch ep called The Five Points. The record told a short story of a New York City slum of that name, which counted the city's most mortalities in the year 1857, of which most were Irish children under six years of age. The ep featured one track that was given the ambiguous name Moonyean. There was a movie from 1932 that was based on a theatre play from 1919, in which the ghost of an Irish-American woman appeared in a garden. That ghost was Moonyean, and Loren named his next album after her. This suite of thirteen individually untitled tracks was originally released on cd by Roadcone in 1994. For the re-release on 180 gr vinyl the original artwork including Suzanne Langille's picture on the cover front has been upgraded, but the title is all that remains clear about the theme, still leaving its content up to one's imagination. Though ever equipped with the same tools of his trade, Loren managed to come up with a different sound on every album that is re-released by Enabling Works. Moonyean for the most part is probably the most gentle of all, due to its source of inspiration. It carries a number of warm and fuzzy tracks typical for the album, in which notes just melt on the tongue. But the album also has the right dose of the contrasting chucks of distorted experimental blues riffs, ever so intense. Loren may have found his way to express himself through the different pickup positions on his guitar as well as external effects, but his character guiding his soft artistic hands over the strings leaves the sound of one man and his guitar unequalled, as his state of mind decides the color of a recording. Along with the tape hiss, environmental sounds and acoustics, and Loren’s occasional distant moaning, a suite of tracks as designed in perfect order makes Moonyean another beautiful piece of timeless and earthly sound art. For its completion, Suzanne Langille hums a few lines on one of the tracks adding her value, bringing in an element of peace, maybe playing the role of Moonyean. Even though it is not clear what Loren is saying exactly with the untitled tracks on the album, it is certain there is pureness and truth in it. Maybe one day, a thousand years from now, when men have evolved into more sensible beings, Moonyean will frequently be heard on national radio all over the world and people will understand what this one man meant all along.

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