UK orders over £50 ship free!
Recommended by us on 11th November 2011
...according to our Clinton on Fri 11 Nov, 2011.
James Blackshaw has been remarkably prolific since last time I looked. There again I'm horribly out of touch. Phil has just told me that you don't have to type 'www' out on the internet any more. Since when did this happen? On the A side the title track starts off with picked harp/celeste type sound before Blackshaw's complex fingerpicked guitar takes over.
The track undulates throughout with piano and viola being added to the mix. Controversial as it may be I could be tempted to say that I like the B side even more. The first part is a lovely captivating solo guitar instrumental with a wonderful rising and falling melody. Stunning. After a brief lull he introduces a little melodica into the mix but is similarly gorgeous in both melody and execution. The most stunning example of 12 string guitar plucking you could imagine. And if you want it to really sound good - try playing it at 45rpm instead of 33rpm as I did - its bloody amazing at that speed. Finally, Phil stalks James Blackshaw on Facebook and tells me that James recently married his wife 'Holly', hence the title. All together now, 'awwwwwwwwww'.
British composer-guitarist James Blackshaw returns with this limited edition 12" EP. The two intimate and introspective pieces collected here were written and recorded during the first three months of 2011, during a break after an intense year of touring and the release of his eighth album "All Is Falling". In many ways, these songs more closely resemble his earlier work, with swirling, cyclical acoustic 12-string and nylon string guitar (a first for Blackshaw) being the focal point of the compositions. Charlotte Glasson also contributes some beautifully restrained clarinet, saxophone, flute and violin playing to the proceedings. There are echoes of French Impressionist composers Satie, Debussy and Ravel in the song "Holly", while "Boo, Forever" even sees a nod to the Takoma guitarists which first enthused and inspired him to start fingerpicking a decade ago, but - more than anything - the sound is unmistakably Blackshaw's own and ranks among some of his finest and most beautiful work yet. All music written by James Blackshaw Recorded & mixed by John Hannon with James Blackshaw at No Recording Studio, March 2011
Be the first to review this record. Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!
Norman Records,
Unit 20, Croydon House,
Croydon Street,
Leeds,
LS11 9RT, UK.
Tel/fax: (+44) 0113 245 4399
Email: phil@normanrecords.com
Follow us on Facebook
We want to be the best online record store in the UK, so please send us your ideas and feedback.
(We don't spam and we won't give your email address to anyone else. One email a week is all you'll ever get. Read our privacy policy.)
For payment and account functions on this site, all traffic is encrypted with SSL. Our SSL certificate is provided by Thawte: view our certificate.
This site is regularly audited for security problems by Netcraft. For more information please take a look at our Netcraft Security Seal.
We don't handle credit card details on this site. When it comes to taking your card payment we hand you straight over to eWAY - a secure, PCI DSS compliant payment gateway.
