Album Details

• Artist: Allen Sondeheim/myk Freeman
• Album: Julu Twine
• Label: Porter
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2009-07-27

The always up for an improv Alan Sondheim leads his id run wild again. Mostly using acoustic guitar and tapping away at old folk motifs, Sondheim is joined on "Julu Twine" by steel guitarist Myk Freedman. Together, they create a kind of atonal "Basement Tapes," making music that either sounds ancient or so new there are no titles for it yet.

There really aren't any titles on the disc either; most songs are just labeled "Track C," "Track B," etc, with a couple notes identifying which instrument-Banjo, Lap Steel, Classical Guitar-is featured on the cut. So Soundheim and Freedman are liberated even from a few anchoring words on each piece. This freedom shows in the way they not only play off each other, but in how they are able to access a vast stylistic knowledge in order to build the songs. There are elements of country blues, bluegrass, rockabilly, atonal drones, jazz, all wrapped in a melodic Eastern feel that also draws on an airy, sounds-from-a-room feel. This gives the music passion, daring, authority, and an intimacy like two cool but weird guys invited to the party who alienate half the crowd but change the rest forever.

Each of the thirteen tracks on "Julu Twine" have their grand moments, but Sondheim's banjo solo on "Track N" and the two songs that feature solos on the Di Giorgio Classical are the winners for me. Alan Sondheim continues quietly building his brave contributions to the library of American music and, with the equally adventurous Myk Freedman, has here created an intimate but ballys set, live from Old Weird America.

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