gilles poizat | rev galen @ the little dog laughed (de)

I haven´t been writing a lot for quite a while except for radioshows and dj mixes, so sorry for that, but now the first few interesting new releases of the year are about to come and first I´d like to mention those two great Lp´s, I really listnened to in heavy rotation over the last days.
The first is another fine 10″ release by Brussels label Okraina records, that came up last year with the fantastic “Song Cycle” by Eloise Decazes & Delphine Dora with new -interpretations of old Luciano Berio Songs.  And in the new 22 minutes  EP we hear Catherine Hershey singing old poems of her grandfather Galen E. Hershey,  a pastor in Pontiac, Michigan.
The first two songs are dark stripped down intimate folk songs, “Warm August Wind” almost acapella sung by Cathrine Hershey, while the third song “Heart Lyric”, my personal favourite,  is sung by Gilles Poizat and accompanied by a sudden -I´ll call it spanish for no reason – trumpet tune. Poizat´s voice reminds especially in this song of Robert Wyatt or John Jacob Niles.  The next songs, sung by both are meandering between folk tunes and sudden velvet underground noise pieces and guitar, flute and trumped tunes, always surprising and keeping the fragile tension of these poems. Mesmerizing and of simple beauty – like the artwork is!
I am no ancient bard / Serene and bold  / Whose words are smooth and hard /Outwearing gold /Nor am I prophet / Who stands alone / To carve his rude surmis / Of truth in stone / As autumn drops each leaf / My songs go free / Their silent flight as brief / As flight can be / By chance, my words may ease / Some ache or wrong /But mostly may they please / The ways of song