Dennis Callaci suggested I do an instrumental guitar record many years ago. Here it is.
Thanissara said something in a Dharma talk given during a course I took with her and Kittisaro about watching the mind rehash old news like a dog chewing on a bone. I told her I was gonna use that phrase for an album title.
I saw Alastair Galbraith post a photo of an ancient moa bone I asked him if I could use it for this project. He kindly said yes. I’m putting this out to coincide with upcoming summer tour of NZ/AU (their winter) so I’ll get to thank him in person.
When the Folk Implosion first started I worked part time at the Rare Books library at Harvard Medical School – not because I wanted to be a librarian, but because it was a way to get health insurance while working half time, leaving four and a half days a week open for rock and roll. I spent about half my time writing lyrics on the back of cancelled catalogue cards because I didn’t respect the director of the library, who was an old school chauvinist who wildly offended me by referring to unwanted visiting researchers as “stitch and bitch” feminists while making it clear he ran the place “For the Docs” meaning the old white guys. On the upside, I became curious about the oddity of small bones when I had to pull the first X-Rays ever made, and an original edition of Robert Hooke’s 1665 book “Micrographia, or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon.” I thought of those strange images this spring when looking for names of obscure bones I could name these shattered pieces after. Zooming in on sonic waves on computer screens today does remind me a bit of putting a bone under a microscope. As the minute details become clearer, the initial simplified image falls apart. Even things that seem to be still and solid are porous and vibrating.
credits
released May 31, 2019
Guitars, bass, keyboards and processing: John Davis
Cover art photo: Alastair Galbraith
All songs by John Davis, Endless Soft Hits (BMI)
“Depending on whether you know John Davis from his solo records or his tenure with the Folk Implosion, you’ll either know him as a vocal performer or an artisan of grooves. If you head to the guy’s website or listen to his last record, 2017’s El Pulpo, you’ll find that his command of language endures; he has a lot to say about food, politics, corporate encroachment and the ongoing effort that it takes to be human. But if you listen closely to his records, you’ll find that they are studded with marvelous little guitar moments, licks that jump out, snag your ear and drag you into the songs that they serve. Gnawing On The Bone is Davis’ guitar record, but the album’s title also says something about his compositional approach. He’ll play a phrase, then take it from another angle, then layer it and mull it over some more. He can pick out a tune, but the same stop/start dynamics that show up in his songs often win out over melodic elaboration. And while he sticks to acoustic guitar, he uses overdubbing, delays and a good old-fashioned slide to expand its sonic footprint. There’s plenty to chew on here, whether you come at this record motivated by interest in Davis or his instrument.” – Bill Meyer, Magnet Magazine, Essential New Music, September 2019
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