PRESS
James Blackshaw/The Glass Bead Game/Review
JAMBASE / DENNIS COOK
Meditative but never somnambulant, James Blackshaw's latest merges the the comforting acoustic layering of early, excellent Windham Hill albums with the more highfalutin' fingerpicked guitar machinations of Sandy Bull and Robbie Basho.
Jambase.com
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/Story.aspx?storyID=19342
8/19/2009
James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game
By: Dennis Cook
Meditative but never somnambulant, James Blackshaw's latest merges the the
comforting acoustic layering of early, excellent Windham Hill albums with
the more highfalutin' fingerpicked guitar machinations of Sandy Bull and
Robbie Basho. The Glass Bead Game (released May 26 on Young God Records)
builds from the tintinnabulous base of Blackshaw's exquisite 12-string
guitar, adding empathetic strings, wordless vocals, splashes of piano and
other subtle touches. He's joined by Current 93 members John Contreras
(cello) and Joolie Wood (violin, clarinet, flute) and classically trained
vocalist Lavinia Blackwall (Directing Hand), and the ensemble generates a
highly visual landscape perfectly suited to mornings or far away journeys,
the spaces where less noise crowds in and we're able to open up to something
this achingly sumptuous.