Eight Point Star – Eight Point Star LP

Description

Remarkable debut album by new Cosmic-Appalachian string band, birthed from the same Virginia firmament that has brought forth Pelt, Jack Rose, Black Twig Pickers, and Spiral Joy Band. Led by Mike Gangloffs droning fiddle and Matt Peytons fingerpicked guitar, Eight Point Star mines the modal traditions of both old-time Appalachia and far-out drone music to produce beautiful tunes that are equal parts memorable and psychedelic. Side A starts with the gentle guitar and fiddle duet of Winchesters Dream before segueing into the loping Waiting on the Band, where the subliminal pulse of Tim Thorntons upright bass animates the music until the lengthy lock-groove repetition of The Interloper. Closing the side, Flowerthrower and Mount-Calvary Peacock have a vibe reminiscent of Popol Vuhs mid-70s masterpieces, combining sawing fiddle and melodic guitar with simple and haunting chord structures. Side B is bookended by two country-blues influenced numbers, with Peytons boisterous vocal and guitar and Isak Howells harp leading the upbeat Brand New Shirt and the elegiac Weeping Cherry Cry. In between the two vocal features are a segued mini-epic of moods, including an expanded group lineup collapsing midway through A Water Panther Speaks into an eerie soundscape of singing bowls and distant gong sounds as dark as the night in remotest Virginia.