Rhodri Davies

Rhodri Davies

An Air swept Clean of all Distance

Amgen CD 003

Equivalent to matching discs by a guitarist skilled on both electrified and unamplified instruments are these solo lap harp CDs. Yet Welsh harpist Rhodri Davies projects such peerless individuality on the highly amplified Wound Response and acoustic An Air swept Clean of all Distance that he not only banishes the vision of harps billowing romantic chamber music, but also creates timbres that could come from a Metal string abuser or a Folk-Blues picker.

After ascertaining that Jimmy Page’s double neck guitar isn’t in use on Wound Response, the build up to stretched fuzz tones, siren-like wails and barrages of string hammering is established as the prestissimo leitmotif of the 10 selections. At the same time while harsh crunches, flanges and splintering echoes appear to move tracks like “The Concentric Blaze” and the concluding “Fulfillment of the Event” towards acid-rock, Davies’ educated tastes pull back from replicating psychedelic-styled indulgence. Some tunes pick up folksier references like “Here the Sun Does Not Enter”, where sharpened glissandi and echoing frails reflect steel guitar elaboration. “The Concentric Blaze” with its mix of thick string buzzes and bell-chiming chords surrounding a melodic centre could have slipped onto a Byrds Country-Rock session if that band had projected superior musicianship. More generic to the program are pieces where the harp’s multiple string set almost creates two sonic personas, one projecting calm and the other overdrive. “The Convergence of How We Got There” for instance begins with electrified string smacks that extend and detour the exposition, then returns to the intro before piling fragmented tones one atop another. This stretches the narrative to the breaking point without fissure. Similarly on “A Parallel or Mirroring Space” continuous siren-like timbres launch upwards to frails and flanges before intricate finger work brings them back to earth and a reflective refrain.

Those folkloric echoes expressed besides processing on Wound Response are given full reign on An Air swept Clean of all Distance. Its 14 all-acoustic tracks’ nearest antecedent is so-called avant-folk improvisations. But unlike those mostly guitar picker who confuse primitivism with passion, Davies is a trained musician. While some tracks may suggest an extension of Doc Watson or Mississippi John Hurt-like multi-guitar ad lib jams, the harpist isn’t limited by tradition or expected sounds. Using repetition, floating chords and unique harmonies, the music suggests more complex affiliations. With multiples of strings, passages can suggest ties to a Bluegrass mandolin (“Soaked Ruins of A Raft”), a clawhammer banjo (“A Cut Circle Orbit Becoming a Virtual Universe”) or even an old timey String Band (“Wet Thru Mines Stone”).

Being Welsh and heir to that ancient harp tradition, comparisons can go only so far. But Davies combination of light strums, floating inferences and intricate fingering suggest both Old World antecedents and New World adaptations. Sometimes additional pressure introduces repeated harsh crunches and strums along with usual pattern subtlety as tempos shift between lento and adagio. At times his isolated finger picking connects to gentle folk strains. Cunningly though, he builds up anticipation for the concluding and longest track, “On the Outer Reach of the Unending”. Constantly moving forward even as he cranks out intersectional string vibrations and repetitions, Davies speeds up the exposition and completes it by spreading novel plinks and plucks variations throughout the remainder. Wrenching the harp from its saccharine reputation, Davies continues to chisel out an inimitable role for it in advanced music.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Wound: 1. Everything at Each Moment 2. Questions of Middle Distance 3. The Concentric Blaze 4. A Parallel or Mirroring Space 5. Here the Sun Does Not Enter

6. Pivotal’ Object 7. Only Compromises Were Arrived At In The End 8. Closed Horizontal Illumined 9. The Convergence of How We Got There 10. Fulfillment of the Event

Personnel: Wound: Rhodri Davies (lap harp, transducer, contact microphone overdrive, volume pedal and two amplifiers)

Track Listing: Air: 1. Soaked Ruins of A Raft 2. In Distortion-Free Mirrors 3. The Rule Was Corroborated In Non-Ordinary Reality 4. Each Clear & Sudden Drop Is Itself 5. Recapitulation of 6. Making Anything Perishable That Can Die 7. Continues, Placement 8. Fingers Pluck Played On By 9. A Cut Circle Orbit Becoming a Virtual Universe 10. The End of Now 11. Outward Radiating Against 12. Each Annulling the Next 13. Wet Thru Mines Stone 14. On the Outer Reach of the Unending

Personnel: Air: Rhodri Davies (lap harp)