TIP OF THE TONGUE 08 JULY 2007
Susan Alcorn
And I Await The Resurrection Of The Pedal Steel Guitar
Olde English Spelling Bee OESB-05
LP
OUT OF STOCK!
Alongside Heather Leigh Murray of Taurpis Tula/Scorces et al, Susan Alcorn is one of the few avant garde pedal steel players in the world today (indeed, it was Alcorn that first gifted Murray her pedal steel). And I Await The Resurrection... is Alcorn's fifth solo album and it is a mind-blower, a series of beautifully solemn pieces for pedal steel that combine intricately constructed hypno-madrigals with all of the danger and energy of free improvisation and the kind of feel for single notes suspended in space that matches Jandek (who Alcorn recently collaborated with), Blind Willie Johnson, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Scorces, Donald Ayler and Keiji Haino. All the recordings were made at home and represent some of Alcorn's darkest, most elegiac material. The first track, "Heart Sutra", is a psychedelic miniature inspired by the Buddha's Sutra Of The Heart Of Transcendent Wisdom, with single notes orbiting a central bass motif with the weirdest rhythmic logic. The breath-taking 16 minute title track references Messiaen's "Et Expecto Ressurectionum Mortuorum" as Alcorn plots a course through single notes that vibrate like tiny, hopeful pin-points of light held deep in the darkest night. The whole deal comes packaged in a heavy duty gatefold sleeve with a gorgeous line-art cover and full notes by Alcorn in a limited edition of only 750 copies and it has both the feel and sound of a classic private press side. One of the most sublime reconciliations of American Primitive roots, high modernist intent and dark psychedelic majesty in a dog's age. Highly recommended.
