Psalms is a part of an ongoing personal project for Nathan Salsburg, a musician and archivist based in the heart of Kentucky. By day, he runs the gargantuan Alan Lomax archive, which hosts the 20th-century folklorist’s free-to-access recordings, transcriptions and films. Outside work, he’s an intuitive, dexterous guitarist with an experimental bent. His two 2020 albums – Landwerk Nos 1 and 2 – were stunning sound collages, moulding decaying drones into samples from 78s, lots of them from klezmer and Yiddish music.
Psalms continues Salsburg’s desire to have a “rigorous, creative engagement” with his Jewish identity. For this project, he deliberately turned to the Tehillim (the book of psalms) at random to find passages that spoke to him emotionally and rhythmically, then created new melodies to help him articulate those lightning-bolt moments. This resulting album winds a lush, languorous path between the past and the present, the arrangements recalling early 00s artists such as Iron and Wine, while never feeling too overripe. Clarinet, brass and dobro offer moments of simpler texture against Salsburg’s intricate fingerpicking, dowsed with ghostly ripples of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn.
The tracks are sung in English and Hebrew by Salsburg and friends, with Israeli singer Noa Babayof’s muted flute tones being especially beautiful throughout (Salsburg’s partner, Joan Shelley, and friends Will Oldham and James Elkington are also on subtler backing band duty). Salsburg’s vocals are less polished, which initially jars, but more time with this record reveals a sweetly honest, ordinary man, trying to explore deep aspects of who he is. It’s an affecting process to witness.
Also out this month
Iorram (Reveal Records) is Aidan O’Rourke’s original soundtrack for the first documentary ever made entirely in Scottish Gaelic, about Outer Hebrides fishing communities. Full of ambient texture and emotion, more beauty reveals itself on every listen, mid-20th century Gaelic archive recordings whorling around harmoniums, fiddles, saxophones, smallpipes and singers including Lizabett Russo. Kathryn Locke with Chodompa Music’s LA (self-released) is impish and infectious, the experimental cellist bringing together Irish and Scottish traditionals, free improvisation and passages that feel in homage to eastern European folk dances into an arresting debut. Tom Coll of Fontaines DC’s Goitse A Thaisce: A Compilation of Irish Music – Volume One (Skinty), is also recommended: a passionately put-together anthology of music he’s loved all his life and contemporary favourites, transporting us from the Bothy Band to Lisa O’Neill.
