I had the great pleasure of seeing James Blackshaw perform at the Brattle this evening. As expected, I was thoroughly blown away. It never ceases to amaze me how one person can make so many lovely sounds with just one instrument. More than a few times during the set, I found myself transported to strange, distant spaces and times.
Though he didn't play my all-time favorite, "The Cloud of Unknowing," the set did include two songs from his upcoming album, The Glass Bead Game, to be released in May. Given Mr. Blackshaw's penchant not only for referencing obscure ideas and texts, but actually conveying their symbolism in his sound, this promises to be another great venture. I've always wanted someone to tackle the material from that book, in some form. I'm still convinced there is some connection to Husserl in whole concept of the bead game, but have yet to follow that hunch up with research (does anyone know if Hesse read Husserl?). (Also, somewhere across the country, Dr. Madsen recalls in horror that I "made him" read that book one Christmas break.)
Opening for Blackshaw were Micah Blue Smaldone and Meg Baird. Smaldone, hung over from a night of drinking "with [his] mother," had a craftedly buzzy sound, which for me evoked the experience of finding something natural (yet mundane) teeming with significance. Like a frog, perhaps. Baird's sound was more ethereal and soothing, aided to stirring plateaus of bliss by her pedal-steeling partner from Brooklyn.
Having experienced three amazing ways to make an instrument make meaning, my recently rekindled love of the guitar is enflamed (spirit?).
