digital music zine kiosk
CMJ new music report
independent weekly - idyll swords
independent weekly - idyll swords II
pitchfork
stinkweed
seattle music weekly
konkurrent

digital music zine kiosk
review of idyll swords II

comprised of north carolinians dave brylawski (ex-polvo), chuck johnson (ex-spatula) and grant tennile (who has worked with trans am), you might think you know what to expect from the idyll swords. you better put those ideas aside or you´ll be in for quite a shock. polvo´s lengthy hypnotizing art-rock aesthetics were replaced by multi-instrumental folk with a healthy dose of middle eastern influences on idyll swords´ self-titled debut album. their second album, simply titled "2", sees the group embracing a similar style, resulting in an odd mutation of the traditional folk sound that´s loaded with suspense and mystery. the thirteen beautifully meandering tracks on "2" are all wrapped in layers of acoustic guitars, banjo, tambura, banjolin and an impressive roster of ethnic instrumentation resulting in a sound that is as timeless as it is modern. favorite cuts include the organic flow of acoustic instrumentation in "tantz" and the following "lake palace" which is slightly more poppy (with some rare but equally nice vocals) in its main structure but nonetheless eerily beautiful. the simplicity in the instrumentation and the dynamic features of the song gives every note enough space to breathe and slowly win you over. another favorite is the all too short "moab (arches)" inspired by arches national park in southeastern utah which has over 2000 sandstone arches, including the spectacularly elongated landscape arch. the music captures these otherworldly geological formations with ease, creating a temple of sound that, like the rest of this flawless record, holds jaw-dropping qualities that´ll capture that lost moment of beauty.

CMJ new music report issue 692
review of idyll swords II

sporting more strings than an army of marionettes, the idyll swords strum and pick their way into fragile, magical territory. with chuck johnson (spatula) and dave brylawski (ex-polvo) making up two-thirds of this trio, one might expect the brainy indie-rock for which both are known. but as with the band's much-overlooked self-titled debut, the mostly instrumental II is more world music-influenced than anything else. combining the sounds of exotic lute-like instruments -- oud, tamboura, pushpa veena, etc. -- with the more familiar western strumming of banjo and guitar, idyll swords songs are fanciful, low-key acoustic explorations. from the dramatic change in "lake palace," as the honey-bright vocals fade and the sweet strings warp into a dirge, to the ominous field recordings of fireworks and applause embedded in "escutcheon ascent/biza's theme," ii is a great way to nurture an appreciation for nontraditional music.

independent weekly
review of idyll swords II
by gavin o'hara

refuting the long-held claim that americans are poor at geography, idyll swords filter countless musics of the world through a distinctly american sensibility and spit it back out, taking provincial southerners like us along for the ride. i'm not gonna pretend to know exactly what ingredients go into this heady brew, but i'm guessing the inspiration for much of it is that funny part of the world where eastern europe melts into the middle east and the exotic flame of asia licks closer than you think.

in addition to the familiar sound of acoustic guitars, idyll swords employ various instruments of the world--cumbus (turkish banjolin), ruan (chinese lute), pushpa veena (indian lap-steel guitar) and baglama saz (sorry, can't help you there). sitar-guitar leads the way on "ucalegon blues" and "morning in miniature," while talking-drum percussion adds much to "moab (arches)" and "the mezereon dynasty."

there's no self-indulgent showboating to be found here, just the electricity of three very talented and attentive musicians playing up to each other's level. this is music to sip tea by. hell, it's music to smoke tea by--music in which to lose yourself completely. the swords shift between michael hedges' percussive guitar, world-folk and even north carolina old-time with logic and ease, making a tacit case for all having sprung from a common cradle.

if you're confused to find that two of the creators of this "world music" are chuck johnson and dave brylawski--alumni of esteemed local rock combos spatula and polvo, respectively--you shouldn't be. idyll swords' melodic ideas and dissonant turns are a natural extension of both bands.

and if the idea of globe-hopping folk music seems a touch academic, fear not. this is where that unassuming college-rock pedigree comes into play. or, as brylawski says in the group's press kit, "the swords don't have any overriding political or anthropological rationale for incorporating eastern and western folk styles--we just think that they flow together nicely, it makes sense to us and it feels good."

pitchfork
review of idyll swords II

the world is getting smaller all the time, and one of the benefits of increased global communication is that the individual, unique musics of all the world's various corners have become available for anyone to listen to. there are so many different folk styles out there that it would be hard to hear a glimpse of them all, but basically everything is on record somewhere, from indonesian gamelan orchestras to hungarian wedding dances and delta blues.

the end result of all this mixing and cultural exchange is recombination, a trend led largely by the pop world, whether it's george harrison arranging rock songs for the sitar or the squirrel nut zippers mixing up a tossed salad of klezmer and 20's hot jazz. of course, it's hard for artists in these early stages of grafting styles to avoid boring genre exercises and clumsy failed experiments, but often you'll end wind up with fairly transcendent results; witness the police's fusion of reggae and new wave. idyll swords are just the latest in a long line of bands who set out to bring disparate styles together, and you have to admire them for their sheer ambition. unfortunately, on this, their second album, their reach sometimes exceeds their grasp as they simply try to bring too many sounds under the same roof without first trying to figure out a way to combine them. at times, the north carolina trio's sophomore effort feels like a demonstration tape of various folk styles from around the world, with genre exercises from central asia sitting rather uncomfortably next to a study on something from eastern europe.

that's not to say there aren't some truly outstanding moments here. the three musicians, chuck johnson, grant tennille, and ex-polvo guitarist dave brylawski, are all guitarists at heart, but on II, they tackle a wide variety of stringed instruments from around the world with admirable facility. they open the record on a deceptively dark note, with the ominous riff that announces "tantz," but quickly allow it to subside in favor of field recordings and a triple acoustic guitar piece. the guitar piece flows through multiple movements, some full of frenzied rhythms and interlocking ostinatos, others brimming with melodic grace.

"lake palace" follows, offering one of the album's only two vocal selections. it's quite pleasant, calling upon appalachian folk for inspiration before landing in slower territory akin to the british folk of the late 60's, as practiced by steeleye span. it also lasts well over eight minutes, sadly overstaying its welcome by a few minutes. "eschuteon ascent/biza's theme" makes a natural union of guitars and eastern strings before descending into a soup of field recordings and audio editing that would fit nicely onto an olivia tremor control album.

it's this first half of II that generally feels the most cohesive, largely employing one of two strategies: one draws on the folk of the us and uk while subtly incorporating oud and cumbus into these otherwise straightforward compositions, while the other offers complex guitar pieces filled with modal scales drawn mostly from traditional middle eastern or eastern european music. the band have opted to make the second half of the album the more varied one, with mostly uneven results. the rub is, many of the short pieces offer potential, but go nowhere.

the sitar and ambient noise interlude of "bani park" gives way to the acoustic slide guitar workout of "abreaction," which is criminally allotted less than a minute to work its magic. "the mezereon dynasty" follows, full of pentatonic melodies plucked out on some sort of lute-- possibly a chinese ruan. "nile monitor" is an all-too-brief piece dominated by meditative raga-like oud parts and droning tamburas. the album does end at its highest point, though, with "steep creek," a fabulous triple acoustic guitar instrumental that nods to the late, great john fahey, and wouldn't sound terribly out of place on gorky's zygotic mynci's blue trees ep.

the primary shortcoming here is that not enough of these pieces feel fully fleshed, and a few of them just tend to either hover listlessly or wander aimlessly. by and large, each style is still too compartmentalized for the album to feel truly cohesive. what you end up with is an occasionally engaging record that tries admirably to eliminate the very distinction between the folk styles of the world, and ultimately fails in that endeavor. it's a reasonably enjoyable listen, but most will be distracted by the time it's over.
-joe tangari, september 17th, 2001

in boston, there's a club/restaurant called the middle east, that hosts nightly indie rock shows, except on wednesdays, when the place transforms for belly dancing and traditional middle eastern music. imagine an up-tempo indie band whose main influences are nick drake, john fahey, and sonic youth, showing up on wednesday instead of thursday, and when they go to get back in the van they find it's been stolen. stranded and broke, they decide to do what any band would, they decide to play anyway, but the only instruments available are acoustic guitars and traditional middle eastern percussion and string instruments. now you're beginning to get the idea of idyll swords. the band remains respectful to a middle eastern sound, keeping the underlying drone, and whiny high-notes, but the stamp of the west is undeniable. the musicianship is precise and excellent; the underlying bass/drone is hypnotic, and the high notes dance around your head like a cobra from a basket of his charmer in a bustling, smoky moroccan marketplace. the opening track, "tantz," proves that it's possible to create a wall of sound without feedback or tape loops, the rumble and jangle of strings draws you in, and takes you to a distant place. the next track, "lake palace," draws you back to america with bluesy finger picking and sweet vocals, but slowly incorporates some of that arabian sound with a rise and fall tempo that kinda sounds like an arab and a cowboy smokin some harsh hashish and tryin to play along with the anthology of american folk music. "escutcheon ascent/biza's theme," has some fuzzed out field recordings that fades gradually into a polyrhythmic jam session. the eastern mystique continues until the fifth track, "a bridge to a bridge," a rockin' country/blues jamboree, complete with some bottleneck slide guitar. indeed the titles seem to mimic the songs themselves, with the songs titled in english having a distinctly more american feel. so "ucalegon blues," which has a bi-lingual title, sounds like something that salomn rushdie might listen to while hanging out with the ghost of leadbelly. breaking away from the lingual mold, "morning in miniature" is a blissed-out soundtrack to an evening of harems and hookas. the next four tracks are more like snippets, "bani park," stays with the eastern sound, and "abreaction," is pure fahey. "the mezereon dynasty," has a frantic banjo strummed and strutted over a deep bass percussive moan, a vibe that carries over onto "nile monitor," though the banjo slows down and a sitar weaves through the song. if they weren't evident yet, the last song, "steep creek," reveals the swords' roots completely, its all-american blues/folk; again in the footsteps of fahey, it manages to be rootsy without having that aging hippie, ben and jerry's lovin', vermont lovin', phish t-shirt wearin', pseudo-environmentalist feel all too common in today's music marketplace. a truly amazing record from start to finish, the idyll swords are unique and uncompromising, if you won't listen, you must be a fool. with members of polvo and trans am.

seattle music weekly
review of idyll swords II
by richard a. martin

in certain musical circles, john fahey's zen, follow-your-own-path guitar work isn't only revered, it's worshiped. this appreciation for flowery (and sometimes menacing) acoustic composition leads to albums like jim o'rourke's bad timing and idyll swords' first and now second discs. this north carolina guitar trio notably feature ex-members of polvo (dave brylawski) and spatula (chuck johnson), though their rock backgrounds figure in only tangentially. both guitarists and another, grant tennille, pick early fahey-style figures that corkscrew and plié, occasionally locking into grooves and conjuring a western, country-like feel, as on the surging "a bridge to a bridge" (with tennille singing minimalist, pastoral lyrics). but what boosts this album above the guys-with-guitars limitation is its multicultural bent. middle eastern and asian instruments such as tamburas, sitars, and ouds provide a percussive element beyond the reverberating strings, and widen the scope enough to convey ethereal explorations ("moab [arches]") and plaintive, almost ceremonial romps ("the mezereon dynasty"). what makes this album so accessible-to those who appreciate acoustic instrumental music, at least-is the genuine care that goes into each song. there's a light, playful mood overall; despite technically flawless performances, idyll swords never sound stiff.

mystic music
idyll swords let listeners travel the world
review of idyll swords from the independent weekly
by tim ross

western musicians both famous and obscure have often displayed a deep fascination and respect for the unique music of the asian continent. duke ellington colored some of his greatest jazz compositions with musical motifs from the middle and far east. the beatles melded pop structures and indian instrumentation while creating some of their finest and most ground-breaking songs. and during the 80s and 90s, various underground and experimental rock bands (savage republic, the sun city girls) have elevated ethnoforgery to a completely new artform. and why not? as once revolutionary movements like "punk" and "alternative" have become stale and clichéd, many creative musicians have discovered a whole new frontier of possibilities in "the east."

two of the finest local bands of this decade have spent plenty of time wandering down these sorts of paths. the avant-rock compositions of spatula have frequently employed the same scales, drones, and rhythms found in middle eastern and eastern european folk musics. and during polvo's eight year lifespan, the band became known for integrating chinese/ korean melodies into its oddly-tuned postpunk. on 1996's exploded drawing, polvo displayed an even greater affection for oriental sounds - the record contained a few brief interludes in which the band played actual asian instruments belonging to guitarist dave brylawski. it was during these sessions that the idea for the idyll swords was born.

"it started three or four years ago," recalls spatula guitarist chuck johnson. "dave approached me with the idea of expanding on the sort of thing polvo was doing on their records - the short, instrumental acoustic passages which often incorporated his asian instruments. we got together sporadically and played with a conscious effort to avoid making actual songs. we would come up with vaguely eastern scales and play over them. after several of these 'jam sessions', we started four-tracking and piecing the themes and scales into song structures." it would have been fairly easy for such a talented twosome to simply ape the sound and style of traditional asian music without adding anything new. but as the project evolved, a cross-cultural sound synthesis developed.

"i think a significant change occurred when we decided to use more blatantly american folk influences," johnson remembers. "that's where the fingerstyle and blues stuff started to come in. the decision to include more 'modern' sounding drone and electronic passages was also a turning point. it really took a couple of years and many four-track sessions for us to settle on a 'direction' for the project. instead of playing rock with eastern influences - which is something we were already doing in polvo and spatula - and instead of making music that sounds like authentic traditional music from another culture, we decided that the most interesting approach would be to explore the common ground between traditional eastern and western music. like a chinese pentatonic scale that sounds like a blues scale, or using a banjo in a different context than you might expect because it can sound like a central asian lute." adding an acoustic guitar virtuoso with folk/blues tendencies helped to firm up the swords' multicultural mission. johnson explains how grant tennille joined the mix.

"grant is an old friend who happens to be one of the best and most underrecorded guitarists i know of. he shared our interest in eastern music and was asked to be involved with the project early on. his early contributions were solo recordings that he would do at home, so he wasn't really part of the 'jamming' process." one of tennille's recordings eventually manifested itself as "autumn in empire," the stunning highlight of the new cd idyll swords (communion). the song begins with a meditative indian drone that's quickly pierced by the beautifully alien sounds of an electric guitar being bowed, sarangi-style. tennille then brings the pastoral calm by spinning a gorgeously complex web of acoustic guitar phrases in the vein of john fahey, leo kottke and led zeppelin's "over the hills and far away." other songs on the around-the-world disc recall everything from ancient chinese court songs to mississippi delta blues to turkish classical music.

oddly enough, the idyll swords have been transcending geographical boundaries not only in their music but also in real life. while johnson and tennille still live in chapel hill, brylawski has spent the last couple of years living in new york, where he attends graduate school at columbia university. thus, practices and performances have been rare. "our geography and schedules don't allow for much," johnson states. "but we definitely plan to record again and play live when we can. i think playing this music live is important because the type of music we draw from is primarily folk music - that is, a social or communal form which is meant to be played for other people."

konkurrent - nieuwsbrief # 150
review of idyll swords II

amerikaanse folk blues waarin af en toe sublieme geluiden uit india,
perzië en turkije voorbijkomen. de belangrijkste man in idyll swords is
dave brylawski, die eerder gitaar speelde in polvo. dan is meteen
duidelijk waar de wind vandaan waait. sobere stukken, die lekker
doorkabbelen. meeslepend, melancholiek en hartstikke sfeer- vol. een greep
uit het indrukwek- kende instrumentarium: sitar, saz, cumbus, banjo,
tambura, pushpa veena, rubab enzovoorts. een heel mooie plaat.