Album Details

• Artist: Paper Wings
• Album: Ash Field
• Label: Pseudoarcana
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2009-01-16

Paper Wings is the guitar duo of Anthony Guerra and Anthony Milton, who have been collaborating for some time. Mostly improvised, this duo explores some pretty heady avenues of the possibilities of the instrument. As their name this time around implies, their music is often thin and fragile, but strong enough to get off the ground and soar.

"Ash Field" consists of four untitled tracks that mix drone, layered feedback, echo and brittle minmalist lines that weave in and out of the mix. Guerra and Milton weave their guitars in and around each other, sometimes creating a web of pure sound, other times drifting into familiar touchtones. The second track is particularly haunting, almost orchestral in its effects, while the final track slowly builds up to a Velvets/Yo La Tengo single chord rave-up, that spins into an inspired blastof controlled noise. Throughout, the droning interplay between the guitars is full of surprises and little epiphanies.

Recorded in one day in September day in 2005 in Sydney, "Ash Field" mines the best of prog, drone and jazz elements to create a brave release full of possibilities and the chops to realize them. The duo from Down Under continue to inspire and challenge the listener with their cosmic interplay, proving yet again that the guitar remains a vital, as yet to be fully explored instrument.

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