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LISTEN TO: from “Carpenter’s Falls” LP (2008) from “The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman” (2007) Live at the 40 Watt 2/7/2007 Live at the 40 Watt 2/7/2007 Live at Transmet 8/7/2007 Live at Transmet 8/7/2007 YOU TUBE VIDEOS: |
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LIVE PERFORMANCES: Optical Atlas Show #2: Folklore Live Folklore Late-Night Live Session Folklore Live @ Transmet 8/7/07 Folklore Live @ The 40 Watt 2/7/07 INTERVIEWS / REVIEWS: Interview with Jimmy Hughes of Folklore Review of “The Ghost Of H.W. Beaverman” Review of “The Ghost Of H.W. Beaverman” Review of “Carpenter’s Falls” Preview of Folklore CD Release show Winter 2008 Review of “The Ghost Of H.W. Beaverman” Interview with Jimmy Hughes of Folklore Tour preview for Winter 2007 Interview with Folklore / Review of “The Ghost…” Review of “The Ghost Of H.W. Beaverman” |
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PRESS CLIPS: Review from PopMatters (2008) “The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman is a tale told from several perspectives broadly in the tradition of Kurusawa’s Rashomon, Sudden Sway’s To You With Regard and Iain Pears’ An Instance of the Fingerpost. This device conveys mystery and posits the notion that we all make our own reality within the grand illusion of life… The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman reminds me of perhaps the greatest concept album you have never heard: The Alchemist by 1970s British group Home. Their record had beautifully illustrated panels in a gatefold sleeve to reveal much of the narrative detail, leaving the music free to wander up gloriously muddy paths… There are some great tunes here, pitched somewhere between Appliance, Sun Kil Moon, and a stark, yet hummable, North European folk tradition… The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman is a totally satisfying blend of imagination, truth, myth, personal history, bullshit, nostalgia, experiment and philosophy. Regardless of whether Beaverman is a malevolent presence with inhuman powers, a convenient enigma, a misunderstood accident, or something else entirely, this is a delightful record.” Review from Viva Indie (2008) “(The album) focuses on the stories of how one man, HW Beaverman, basically upset the lives of almost everyone he came in contact with in a small town in upstate New York . Hughes spent years collecting these stories for a novel that never came to pass. Luckily for us, he used his considerable song writing skills to capture the stories in verse and share them with the world. Guest vocalists abound on this record all singing as various characters from the town telling their individual stories....The songs are poignant and provocative, heartbreaking and haunting. Truly a great effort by Hughes and absolutely everyone involved. “ Review from Americana UK (2008) “Not the simplest thing to achieve in the context of indie-pop and if you factor in nine different vocalists it is amazing that it sounds as coherent as it does… The band and guests are all from Athens, Georgia area and all mesh their own sound into the vision of Hughes; he takes lead vocal on ‘The Pharmacist’ a warm organ and brass decorated song full of simmering pop… A strange medievalist ‘The Ghost’ voiced by Heather McIntosh (The Instruments) evaporates out of the speakers like dust from a box in the attic, a remnant of a former age. The overlapping vocals of ‘H.W. Beaverman’ sound like voices leaking into the same space from different dimensions to create some kind of ghostly static, which is I suppose the point of all of this. Those of you excited by the Neutral Milk Hotel re-issues will find something to like here.” Review from Whisperin & Hollerin (2008) “The story is told through nine songs (and two instrumental tracks) narrating what Hughes calls a backwards rumor tree. So,at the outset, Beaverman is a menacing spectre while by the end he is a relatively benign figure in a diner and not a ghost at all…. The perspective on this urban myth varies to the extent that he is perceived as a dangerous psychopath or harmless prankster…. The tracks showcase standard indie instrumentation which is augmented by brass and string accompaniment. This gives an overall feel of a half hour Baroque psych-pop opera very much in keeping with the offbeat lo-fi style of Elephant 6 collective from which many of the contributors are drawn…. Hughes' concept is nevertheless an intriguing and original one. The album features accomplished ensemble playing and I wouldn't rule out the possibility of the songs working effectively with a strong visual presentation, say in a multi-media stage show or as a soundtrack to an animated film.” Review from Southeast Performer Magazine (2008) "Concept albums are a tricky thing; they work either because the music is fantastic or the story the record tells is engaging, but rarely do both things work out simultaneously. The first full-length CD from Athens band Folklore is one of these rarities. The Ghost of H.W. Beaverman tells the story of this much rumored and elusive man through the characters on the CD that recount their experiences of Beaverman, from sighting his specter to seeing the man himself in the flesh. Each character on the CD has his/her own song and each track is voiced by a different vocalist. Anyone familiar with the roster of Athens musicians will be delighted to see guest appearances from the likes of Amy Dykes (I Am the World Trade Center), Scott Spillane (Neutral Milk Hotel), Heather McIntosh (Circulatory System), Andrew Rieger (Elf Power) and many more veterans of the Athens music scene. The CD shifts between lo-fi acoustic tracks and highly stylized studio tracks resulting in 11 tracks of melodically charming and sometimes humorous pysch-pop songs. The airy sounding CD adds layer upon layer of harmony by utilizing an array of instruments from melodica, bells, harmonica and euphonium, to a variety of horns and strings. Another nice gem about the CD is the fact that each song can stand alone as its own entity outside of the storyline, and when taken out of context, the songs take on an even deeper meaning." Review in Flagpole (2008) “Folklore… pop music (that) veers towards lo-fi storytelling and takes unexpected narrative turns.” |