Wednesday, March 11, 2009

a coupla midmarch Bookmill joints. . .

Sunday, March 15th at the Montague Bookmill with Asa Irons and Mother of Fire. The show is at 8 pm and $7. hosted by the Autonomous Battleship Collective!

Asa Irons

Before he was in the bands Feathers or Witch, Asa Irons had already created (with childhood friend, Swann Miller) a quietly commanding masterpiece. The lp, Asa Irons & Swaan Miller is a beautiful New England pastoral that is as stoic in places as it is sweet in others and it represents a perfectly appropriate balance if you know Asa at all in real life. Asa is as starry eyed an observer as any, but, just as characteristically, sharper than most, grounded as he is by the stone masonry and carpentry that provide for his living and maintain his perapateticism. In recent years Asa has taken to performing with a set of ancient, gong-like saw blades that, like the man himself, might be equally at ease working in the north woods of New Hampshire as performing for you.

"After spending years in New Hampshire and often Nova Scotia, I began writing songs about my Northeastern window through which I view the world. Most of the pieces represent strong fundamentals in my life such as living without comfort resources like electricity and running water, the building trends of carpentry and masonry with which I make my living, and the slow paced rural life in which I grew up. The land of Northeastern North America is very important to me and compelled me to describe it in the form of music. Many people in my life were musicians - my father, cousins, friends - so I had plenty of good examples to pull from and think about. My style of song writing, I believe, comes from the influence of these loved ones combined with certain deep-rooted melodies or images from books that have stuck with me."

Mother of Fire

"Mother of Fire formed in December of 2007. Collaborating in previous bands, The Royal Flycatchers and Echo Masho, Jason Misik (guitar/bass/drum(s) machine) and his enigmatic counterpart Naomi Joy (violin/vocals) succombed to the frozen forces of winter madness in their basement, while squaring off with their arch enemy the Akai MPC 1000. Once the light and warmth of spring began to thaw the Minnesota landscape, the culmination of their embattled efforts brought them into the studio to record their debut album, which they hope will be mastered, pressed, and released exclusively on vinyl sometime in the spring of 2009. Currently, Mother of Fire has joined forces with drummer Andie Mazorol (Jose Bove, Hex)."

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and another show a little further down the line...March 17 at the Montague Bookmill.

"Raymond Morin is a member of the folk-rock group Pairdown, whose playing recalls Brit-folk acts like Pentangle and The Incredible String Band, as well as the their American contemporaries like Love. Their impressionistic lyrics reveal a strong poetic affinity with modern indie and post-rock. Based in Pittsburgh, Morin is touring solo to support their latest LP, "Holykyle", and will be performing songs from that album as well as instrumentals from the British Folk revival and the Kicking Mule Records era.

Matt Goulet is a fingerstyle guitarist and singer who blends ragtime and early jazz styles with songwriting reminiscent of 60's folk troubadours like John Martyn and Nick Drake. Following a relocation to Western Massachusetts, Goulet began recording tracks for a new album in his home studio, due out in 2009. Live, he is accompanied by violinists Jan Wholey and Katy Dieber, as well as Mark Koyama of Heathen Creek on mandolin.

Ryan Lee Crosby is singer/songwriter from Boston, MA whose confessional songwriting style is as disarming as it is direct. Crosby calls to mind world weary modern songsmiths like Jeff Buckley and Elliot Smith, as well as the hushed atmosphere of early Leonard Cohen. He is touring regionally in support of his new album "Out To Dry".

$7

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