Various Artists – The Garden of Forking Paths [Important Records]

Like so many fractured hipster trends, these hyper-sped up times have created a disposable interest and an overabundance of underground styles: left-field hip-hop, revival post-punk and no-wave, Favela booty beats, the resurrection of disco but in a more obscure and pretentious form, that of Italo-disco (which I am a complete sucker for), sludge/doom/stoner/drone/art metal, twee pop and this confusing mess called free-folk. I do not intend on criticizing the musical styles themselves, rather that their surfacing within a hipster existence is very limiting. For instance, with free-folk a profusion of drivel has occurred, as illustrated by the likes of CocoRosie, Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and an exhausted list of fellow imitators who seem much more into the camera and mirror than their actual sound. However, as irritated as I am with Devendra Banhart prancing around a photo shoot wearing a Navajo headdress and American Apparel briefs, there are plenty of experimental-folk artists who are more concerned with pushing the envelope then their Pitchfork derived image. Those who come straight to mind are Josephine Foster, Paul Metzger and James Blackshaw. The former of which and curator of The Garden of Forking Paths (also the title of a 1941 short story by Argentinean writer/poet Jorge Luis Borges) proves that contemporary acoustic music is beyond that which the hollows of Williamsburg let on.

The compilation showcases four artists and five pieces from across the globe that are purely instrumental, inventive and separated from the hipster derived free-folk scene, meaning no campy costumes retrieved from Shaman retreats and no artificial moccasins or rabbit foots glued to the back of instruments. Blackshaw lends his Fahey inspired finger-picking on “The Broken Hourglass”, which somehow reminds me of the central motif in Ennio Morricone’s “Il Triello” from The Good the Bad and the Ugly, yet with only a single 12-string guitar. Chieko Mori, a virtuosic koto player (a traditional Japanese 13-stringed instrument), is the only artist given two pieces. This additional space allows her to show the breadth and beauty of her unique improvisation. Helena Espvall’s “Home of Shadows and Whirlwinds” is distant from her work with the Espers. In a solo setting, the undertones of her cello are given breath as the drones encompass the imperceptible. And on “The Mirror of Eternal Light”, Josef van Wissem, a Dutch renaissance-lutist, blends the dark tones of the antiquated instrument with an ambiguous modernity. With The Garden of Forking Paths, each piece is salient, thought provoking, and clear ahead of fashion-free-folk and as a whole is a brilliant statement in forward-thinking music.

Bardos Freedoom