About Me
Fern Knight is the eponymous third full-length release from this fixture on North Philadelphia's internationally renowned musical community. As the primary cover for Margaret Wienk's singing and songwriting, this record fully unleashes her style of melding acoustic and electronic sounds, her careful orchestration alongside the improvisational strengths of the quartet, well-placed strings and crystalline vocals. Displaying her classical roots and psychedelic leanings, Fern Knight will be released into the world by the VHF label on May 5, 2008.
Fern Knight Live 06/01/07
The new recording highlights the sonic cohesion of the quartet, featuring longtime member Jesse Sparhawk on harp and electric bass, Jim Ayre on Flying V and drums/percussion and noted Sun Ra scholar James Wolf on violin. The album was skillfully captured on 24-track analog tape by Greg Weeks at Hexham Head and mixed by Brian McTear at Miner Street Recordings. The calm surface of harp, cello and violin are juxtaposed against the perfectly timed distorted squalls of a Flying V with the grounding blanket of electric bass underneath. All throughout is a dark undercurrent of lyrical and vocal mystery. The overall effect is a lush and pastoral ode to all things living, a running theme that winds through the lyrics: "All is lost / and all will run / over graying ground / to the rays of the sun," sings Wienk in the album's closing track "Magpie Suite: Part III." The spirit conveyed on Fern Knight (vhf 110) is that of a beautiful green age in an apocalyptic landscape about to be laid to dust and its struggle to escape this end.
Fern Knight
S/T
Release date: May 5, 2008
VHF Records 110
www.vhfrecords.com
recorded by Greg Weeks at Hexham Head
mixed by Brian McTear at Miner Street
produced by Margaret Wienk
The Players:
Margaret Wienk - guitars, cello, double bass, vocals, sundries
Jim Ayre - electric guitar, drums, percussion
Jesse Sparhawk - harp, electric bass
James Wolf - violin
Guests:
Greg Weeks, Gillian Chadwick and Orion Rigel Dommisse
Track listing:
Bemused
Silver Fox
Sundew
Loch Na Fooey
Hawk Mountain
Synge's Chair
Magpie Suite: Prelude
Part II
Part III
Review by Richie Unterberger for All Music Guide:
Fern Knight's third album will on many levels appeal to fans of the early 21st century variations of acid folk music. It has some of the same characteristics: gentle female vocals, a tentative delicacy, and an audible debt to British folk and folk-rock of the late '60s and early '70s (although singer/songwriter/cellist Margie Wienk is American). There are some differences, or at least unusual shadings, that set them off from the pack. There's a pronounced chamber music feel to much of the instrumentation, particularly with the liberal use of cello and violin drones, as well as harp accents. Often it's darker and tougher, however, than some other artists who follow similar lines. There's a sinister grit to the playing, and melodies that belie but do not undercut the sweetness of Wienk's vocals, and while the arrangements don't have anything like a classic bass-drums rock rhythm section, there are some occasional blasts of ferocious electric guitar. The overall impact treads the border between the haunting and the truly spooky, though some of the material, especially "Synge's Chair," sounds like it could almost be traditional in origin. If the influence of vintage British acid folk is audible, it must be said that it is in the strength of the songs and the clarity of the production; this is more impressive than many obscure relics of much earlier vintage in the same style that are championed by some collectors.
Partial Discography:
2008: Silver Summit, Water's Edge , CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Ex Reverie, The Door Into Summer , CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Ilya Monosov, 7 Lucky Plays, Or How to Fix Songs for a Broken Heart , CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Ptolemaic Terrascope Magazine, Issue 36, included CD features the song "Hawk Mountain"
2007: The Valerie Project, self titled , CD/LP, Drag City (Chicago, IL )
2007: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Ask Forgiveness , CDep/12"ep, Drag City (Chicago, IL)
2007: Damon & Naomi, Within These Walls , CD/LP, 20/20/20 (Boston, MA)
2007: Orion Rigel Dommisse, What I Want From You Is Sweet, CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Mountain Home, self titled, CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores, The Blind Spot , CD, Cuneiform Records (Silver Spring, MD)
2006: Fern Knight, Music for Witches and Alchemists, Full-length CD, VHF Records (Fairfax Station, VA)
2005: Fern Knight, Blithewold, EP, self-released (Providence)
2005: Greg Weeks, Blood is Trouble, full-length CD, BaDaBing! (Leonia, NJ)
2003: Fern Knight, Seven Years of Severed Limbs, full-length CD, Normal Records (Germany)
2003: Espers, self-titled, full-length CD, Locust Music (Chicago, IL)
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Tshirts still available! Go to: www.fernknight.com/merch/cfm
Music for Witches and Alchemists on vinyl on Eclipse Records is out! Send us a message to order your copy using Paypal. Hand-printed sleeves by Neil Burke of Monoroid.
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