ROBIN CRUTCHFIELD: For Our Friends in the Enchanted Otherworld

Robin Crutchfield

For Our Friends in the Enchanted Otherworld

© 2007 Hand/Eye (656605499420)

CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.

(About MP3 downloads at CD Baby)

Harp, drone, and glissando soundscapes for daydreamers of this and other worlds.

notes

A tiny treasurebox from a lost garden, “For Our Friends in the Enchanted Otherworld,” finds Robin Crutchfield further exploring his unique world; one of delicate harp compositions, glissando, and deep drones. Soundscapes for daydreamers of this and other worlds.

Robin co-founded the experimental no-wave art band, DNA, and later collaborated with varied artists (including Steven Brown of Tuxedomoon and filmmaker Jim Jarmusch) in the guise of his Dark Day project. His new solo explorations have been described by Devendra Banhart as “beguiling, powerful, hypnotic, mesmerizing, commanding, delicately unnerving, lilting, mellow,” and “tense as hell.”

Reviews:
________________________________________

The Wire No. 287 (Jan. 2008)
SOUNDCHECK p. 55

Robin Crutchfield
For Our Friends In The
Enchanted Otherworld
HAND/EYE CD

Robin Crutchfield is one of the more enigmatic
musicians around. After making waves as a
performance artist in New York in the late 70s,
he played keyboards in the original version of
DNA with Arto Lindsay and Ikue Mori, until
deciding they weren't as interesting as they
might be. He then formed Dark Day, originally a
trio with Nina Canal of Gynecologists/Ut and
Nancy Arlen of Mars. This version never
played live, unlike later line-ups with Jim
Jarmusch, members of Tuxedomoon and
others. Dark Day explored wide varieties of
keyboard textures and machine theories, and
went through several distinct phases.
In its final incarnation, the group
investigated some of the odder possibilities
lurking inside British folk traditions. The vibe of
their last album, Darkest Before Dawn, was
akin to Comus or Current 93. Abandoning the
group name, Crutchfield delved ever more
deeply into this style; and his explorations are
continued on For Our Friends In The Enchanted
Otherworld, his third solo album.
The music is largely based on instrumental
harp glissandos: shimmering cascades of
notes pouring down amidst birdsong, tanpura,
bells and other woodland instrumentation.
Crutchfield's compositions still have some of
his old mechanistic hallmarks, but they've been
recast as steampunk visions - huge delicate
wooden wheels, spinning and plucking and
plunking inside his fevered imagination. Which
turns out to be a great place to visit -
somewhere between Early Music, new volk
and contemporary classical. This album is not
quite like anything else you'll hear this year,
and it's pretty goddamn brilliant.
BYRON COLEY

___________________________________________________________

psychevanhetfolk
PSYCH/ACID HEAD FOLK related items REVIEW PAGE 16
http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com/acidfolkreview16.html#anchor_447

Hand/Eye Robin Crutchfield : For our Friends in the Enchanted Otherworld (US,2007)****

The instrumentals by Robin Crutchfield are played by harp, tanpura, wine glass, toad, wooden flute, bells, stomping boot, jinglebox, flying machines, sampler, and forest friends.

And an Enchanted world this is : very magical minimalism, miniatures that sound very often like dew from elves that flies by with the wind, and this expressed in a musical form. The first three tracks are small variations of harp with droning tanpura. On “Finding Our Woodland Way” the harp dances (-,from right to left,-) between sounds of forest creatures, as if this describes the presence of a Chinese elf or spirit creature. New also is “In Crystal Caves” where there are used airy glass sounds in combination with harp. Between other organic harp tracks (partly with additional sounds), “The Birds Know” is another original, short track, which is based upon a magical forest sounds that become keyboard-like loops. “Enchanted Ice Cream Truck” is magical like wind-chimes, as if combined with tiny bits of piano sounds, and it sounds like a natural musical box. Between two other harp theme tracks, “Magic Puffbox” is also another short beautiful weird moment, of remixed sounds, with a world on its own. “Dwarfish determination” gives an original variation of this particular world, sound rich and minimal in its nature, but still much more a composition of a dance than a loop.

This is very descriptive music, a true musical ode to the little friends in the enchanted other world.
-Gerald Van Waes

___________________________________________________________

reviews

Please log in to review this album.

email

Please log in to email this artist.