PRESS
-
Freak Folk Flies High
()
SF Gate | by Derk RichardsonA new generation of flower children keeps psychedelic folk alive My parents never heard their record collections come back at them refracted and renewed through the counterculture of my generation. They didn't listen to Woody Guthrie, so they didn't realize what Bob Dylan was up to. And other than ironic recycling as lounge music, the easy-listening sounds of Ferrante & Teicher and Andre Kostelanetz didn't inspire much reinvention by baby boomers. I, however, am living through the disorienting but delicious experience of listening to a significant chunk of my college-years soundtrack being salvaged and reimagined by a corps of young musicians, many of whom were born after the Sex Pistols broke up. Thanks to Devendra Banhart, Iron & Wine, Josephine Foster, Sir Richard Bishop, Six Organs of Admittance and others, I'm beefing up the long-undernourished "psychedelic folk" section of my CD shelves. I still listen to flower-power bard Donovan, doomed British folksinger Nick Drake, iconic SF acid-folk-rockers Jefferson Airplane and "American primitive" fingerstyle acoustic guitarist John Fahey. Obviously, so do Banhart, Foster, Bishop and others in the freak-folk scene. Paralleling what the Strokes, White Stripes and Black Keys have done with garage rock and blues......
-
Angels of Light 'Sing Other People'
()
Exclaim | by Kevin HaineyInterviewTo say Michael Gira is a pretty serious dude is to say that castration would kind of hurt. Shit, the man practically built a career on shoving seriously relevant but hopelessly taboo topics such as repressed guilt, primordial sin, inherent suffering, loss of morality and commonplace self-destruction so far into his listener’s psyches (with notorious dirge-rock legends Swan, whom he fronted with Jarboe) one couldn’t help but feel somewhat stilted, or even violated by his fire-and-brimstone intensity. But ever since Swans were laid to rest back in 1997, Gira has slowly been moving out of the darkness and into the light with his various solo projects. Of these, Angels of Light are the most rustic, acoustic and folk-based, and this, their third album, finds Gira in the lightest of spirits yet, which is to say he still exercises his profound intensity, but balances it with a wise, meditative calmness that suggests he’s found his inner flower and tends it daily. Marked by delightfully spare arrangements that emphasise Gira’s sparkling acoustic guitar work and the percussive talents of his new-found backing group, Akron/Family, this album is a beautifully heartfelt tribute to those Other People Sartre called hell,......
-
THE ANGELS OF LIGHT SINGS OTHER PEOPLE
()
indieworkshop.com | grant capesNo artist is as indie as Michael Gira.He has consistently done what he saw fit, from the bludgeoning amplified ballet of the Swans to the lush and exotic instrumentation of the World of Skin. His work became even more amazing and bounteous once he built his own record label, eschewing forever the fetters of the record industry. His solo releases, mostly limited edition CD-R¹s, signed by him, contained some of the seeds for this, easily the most coherent of the Angels of Light recordings. If you can¹t get those recordings, than please, jump on this one ASAP. This coherency is surprising, in that every song was intended by Gira to be totally separate and autonomous. What links them together, aside from the lack of drums throughout, is Gira¹s consistently vision-invoking voice and the Akron/Family¹s rather astounding turn as a choral back-up group for Gira (which is a little sad, considering the stupendous band he had assembled for the Everything is Good Here / Please Come Home record, but things never last forever, especially good things). One thing about Gira¹s work, especially on the Angels of Light material, is that I can never seem to pick a favorite......
-
The Angels of Light
()
uncommonfolk.net | by J. Honn Other People Back in my undergraduate college days when I would mellow out by listening to ambient albums, M. Gira's band Swans was a staple. Though rougher than Experinmental Audio Research and closer to found sound/noise ambient stylings of The Hair and Skin Trading Co., Swans always had a chaotic yet settling effect on the listener (or at least me). After a number of releases under that name Gira ended up starting his own label which recently released his offering Other People under the moniker The Angels of Light. The label, aside from continuing to feature Gira's work, has become a tour de force for the new folk genre, releasing all of Devendra Banhart's albums and finding great young talent like NYC's Akron/Family (who back Gira on this album). The Angels of Light is an older M. Gira who has found song structure and melody, abandoning the droning and often disconnected qualities of Swans, though hints do indeed remain. The music is a perfect blend of high pitch acoustic guitar and Gira's deep, often crooning voice. When backed with lush female vocals the album takes dreamy turns, much like lying in bed listening to Swans,......
-
Angels Of Light Sing Other People
()
Tandem Newspaper, Toronto | Chris TwomeyGira searches for the redemption of America with these fascinating songsFormer Swans vocalist Michael Gira and his bands have given some of the most extraordinary performances I¹ve seen. His latest compositions are for Angels Of Light, who will be performing at the Music Gallery at St. George the Martyr Church this Thursday, April 14th, along with a new acoustic-based band he¹s just produced, Akron/Family. Gira was influenced by his experience with them to record without drums or the monumental dynamics that distinguished his music. This new back-to-basics, almost folksy Gira is initially very different and disturbing because his usual intensity has been replaced by a relaxed and happy tone!? But his muse doesn¹t fail him, as an inspired lament about the Iraq invasion ("Destroyer") proves that the real power is the conviction in the man¹s voice and not the volume of any instruments he uses. Sounding like a post-modern Johnny Cash, Gira searches for the redemption of America with these fascinating songs about real people and their media-fed illusions....