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James Blackshaw/The Glass Bead Game/Review
Other Music Newsletter / by [AB]
Nearly every year, we wind up gushing about the newest album from London guitarist James Blackshaw, and by the next year, he's blown past all previous expectations with something more eloquent and grandiose.
Other Music / Newsletter
Othermusic.org
5/28/09
James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game
By [AB]
Nearly every year, we wind up gushing about the newest album from London
guitarist James Blackshaw, and by the next year, he's blown past all
previous expectations with something more eloquent and grandiose. Such is
the case with his first album for Michael Gira's Young God imprint. While
last year's Litany of Echoes showcased the steel-string maestro branching
out to the piano, here he brings all his talents together, commingling his
guitar and piano playing with violin, viola, and wordless vocals into
something stunning and spellbinding. Opener "Cross" is about the closest
modern thing we've heard to reach the peaks of Italian composer Luciano
Cilio's mid-70s masterwork, Dell'Universo Assente. Recommended.