East of the Valley Blues

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If, somehow, you’re missing out on Astral Spirits admirable run of records of late, then its time to get acquainted fast. The Monofonus Press offshoot has been digging up some of the most essential jazz and experimental sets and locking them down in limited cassette quantities. Most of the catalog tunnels the underside of jazz’ odyssey, allowing a space for artists to expand and experiment in a comfortable setting. With little commercial expectations the releases have often yielded larger risks and intriguing results. While the catalog boasts heavy hitters like Kid Millions, Thurston Moore, Kawabata Mokoto and Joe McPhee, its often the less marquee releases that deserve some attention as well. The series marks the fourth album by Toronto siblings East of the Valley Blues and they add a gnarled dose of fingerpicked guitar to the stable.

The two tracks explore hypnotic, circular melodies scarred with fret noise and uneasy ambience. The brothers clearly take the line from Fahey and Basho, and while not necessarily paving their own way like, say, Daniel Bachman this year, they’re still working up a worthy listen within these two halves of the acoustic sphere. Both tracks bear similar titling and though the focus lays cleanly on the thirty minute, Ressemblera title track, they do some fine work on the cassette’s flip with the less meditative and more raucous, “Reassemblera”. The release poses another side to the label and one that I hope they continue to explore with more fingerpicked releases. Then again, the freeform nature is what makes Astral Spirits such a delight. Whatever’s next will surely come from outside the bounds of expectation and elevate a deserving voice.




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