Baba Yaga – Baba Yaga

It’s a great year for aughts folk projects shut away from light for years. Following the excellent issue of Grass’ sole LP, another gem ekes out of the woodwork from the Twisted Village Catalog, the mostly shuttered, but eternally revered Boston label run by the good folks from Major Stars. This record has been in the works since Baba Yaga first appeared around 2007. The duo of Carla Baker and Amanda Bristow quickly became fixtures in their Boston scene, local favorites that eluded much of the free folk fanfare of the time, due in large part to their lack of releases. Though, that’s not without trying. This LP was first recorded in 2009, laid to tape live in mostly one or two takes. The record is a pure distillation of the ’60 folk canon and it’s rendered here in its final form as a pristine vision that feels like a kindred spirt to Heron’s revered LP or many contemporaries from the Language of Stone catalog at the time (Orion Rigel Dommiesse, Festival).

Sadly, the album was recorded just prior to the band packing it in, with Carla moving to NY, appearing in bands like Raajmahal with Pat Murano, and Amanda joining Major Stars for a while. Behind the moves and missed connections, over quite a few years, the record was sequenced through slow-going communication, and finally pressed in a small run in 2013. Just as it seemed the record might finally make it out into the world, the original cover art was lost, a setback that seemed to signify an end to the project completely. Skip ahead more than a decade of those 250 LPs sitting in Wayne Rogers’ closet and friend of the site, and all around excellent designer Darryl Norsen was brought in to re-imagine the art for the record. Sleeved and set free, the record is a beautiful testament to patience and persistence. As lovely as the day it was recorded, the record unfurls in its unadorned glory. Tender, windswept, and calm, the record is a reminder of the power of two entwined voices and the strum of strings. It’s been a long time coming, but Baba Yaga’s sole album is an essential of the 2000s’ folk bloom.