HymnprovisationsDaniel Higgs

Daniel Higgs was the singer in now defunct Dischord band Lungfish. With each passing release that fact becomes less and less relevant – I mean in 2003 he released a solo jaws harp record; the path from hardcore band member to jaws harp performer is not a well trodden one. In fact, it isn’t even a path at all, just a couple of fragments of wood floating atop a bog. Now look at the title of his new album. Then look at the picture of Daniel Higgs above. How can this record fail to be the total epitome of absolute awesomeness? It can’t. And it doesn’t.

There are three pieces for banjo, of varying length – around five, ten and twenty minutes. These are spiralling rough-hewn ragas, Fahey-like in their intensity. There are two pieces for piano, each at around five minutes. I’m assuming that they are pieces for piano only because it says so in that awesome album title. They sound nothing like piano, more like gamelan. They sound fantastic. I’m assuming that Higgs is hammering away at the strings inside the body of a knackered old piano, but the metallic rhythms he produces are spellbinding. If you have been following my progression through the constituent elements of that awesome title, you’ll know that this leaves the raindrops. One crackly, drizzly field recording, made either in Paris or Orkney. Funnily enough, I’m guessing Orkney as Orkney rain has a particularly crackly, drizzly quality that Paris rain doesn’t.

500 copies of the elemental, experimental Hymnprovisations for Banjo with Piano and Raindrops have been carved out by iDEAL. I’ve got number 71. There are a few more left at Second Layer.

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