Richard Youngs is one of the most enigmatic and singular of artists.  Earlier this year he played on a bill which included the Finnish freak-folk chanteuse Islaja and American minimal violinist Tony Conrad.  Like sometime collaborator Jandek, Youngs plays live so rarely – I don’t think he had been on stage in many years – but here had the courage to sing unaccompanied in a church, and to do so with a passion that riveted all present to their pews.  Such vision has led him to record some startling avant-electronic albums, such as The Naïve Shaman and River Through Howling Sky, and has now led him to record the most enigmatic and singular of folk-guitar albums. 

The most intriguing aspects of Autumn Response are the prominent double-tracked vocals which feature throughout, singing these bewitching and poetic tales that lure you completely into his world.  As with many songs on here, “I Need The Light” could almost be a traditional folk song, were it not for the two vocal parts which start together and slip so far out of phase by the end they are almost in different time zones.  The lines blur on “Low Bay Of Sky”, a plaintive, emotive lament full of tumbling guitar.  “One Hundred Stranded Horses” sounds like it is sung in the round, adding to the song’s maddening concentricity.  

The captivating epic “Something Like Air” meanders all over the second half of Autumn Responses, sounding almost like a duet, and sounding almost like something that space precluded from fitting onto The Incredible String Band’s Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter.  I don’t think such comparisons are at all unwarranted: Autumn Responses is a classic, and one which is probably destined not to reach the wider audience it deserves.  It is available now from Jagjaguwar.

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