Andrew Stranglen - Fingerstyle Guitarist
In addition to my love of American Primitive Guitar, I also like many other types of music. On this record I make use of field recordings and digital samplers for occasional accompaniment to my guitar work.
Harken - var. of 'Hearken' - 1. Listen, 2. To give respectful attention
archaic : to give heed to : HEAR
"Harken" echoes back to a bygone age when Steam Power was the motive force behind the activities of man.
Track one, 'Harken' means to listen, which I hope you will do.
Follows is an 8+ minute piece called
'Steam Thresher' in which a guitar sample suggests the sound of a late 1800's-early 1900's steam powered threshing machine(used in grain harvesting) over which textured fingerpicking interplays with the resultant rhythm of the thresher.
'A Long Time Ago #3'- uses a variant of the open C-tuning - CGCGBbE or simply C7 open, a wistful primitively played violin provides accompaniment.
'Threshing In Teental" is a fast piece in a 16-beat, found in India(n) music. The teental beat was created with two digital sampler pedals.
'Phoebe' is a simple country-like melody, played in C7th tuning.
'Dream Thresher' - welcome to a new[old] machine - this is a 31 minute! collage, great for the automobile trip. An embellishment on the aforementioned steam thresher idea, with added sounds of trains, crickets, birds and cicadas. Think music for "Grantchester Meadows" - a Pink Floyd masterpiece.
'A Long Time Ago #2' - solo guitar in C7th tuning.
'Welded Rail Blues' is in the OpenC tuning, sometimes known as the Sun tuning.
The closing piece, 'Years Have Gone By', will set well with those familiar with
John Fahey's Takoma record "Vol. 6 Days Have Gone By".
Harken!: You may also like my "Secret Orchard Apparatus":
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stranglen2
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/lectrikdog/Track List:
1. Harken
2. Steam Thresher
3. A Long Time Ago #3
4. Threshing In Teental
5. Phoebe
6. Dream Thresher
7. A Long Time Ago #2
8. Welded Rail Blues
9. Years Have Gone By
Suggested CDs:
Other Genres:
