Deep Rivers Run Quiet: Ryan Francesconi’s “Parables”
Photo by Ben Corrigan.
Ryan Francesconi‘s wonderful music has been lilting around the edges of my life since 1995 when I briefly worked together with him and Dan Cantrell in the Toids, an experimental folk group that riffed off various Eastern European idioms in tandem with Francesconi and Cantrell’s eclectic compositional styles. Back then, Francesconi was one seriously intimidating guitar/tambura/bouzouki shredder! He reveled in playing faster, smarter, better than anybody. He’s a shredder still, and no one can approximate his style… but over the years, wisdom seems to have smoothed over some of the sharper, more Malmsteinish edges of his virtuosity. Lately, the music he makes has deepened into an expression of something more present, and pure.
Nowhere is this more apparent than on a quietly stunning record Francesconi released earlier this year, called Parables. A series of songs for solo acoustic guitar, it reflects his interest in American bluegrass, Bulgarian folk, jazz improvisation and Baroque lute music. Recorded live (no overdubs!), the music is graceful and green with nods of kinship to everyone and everything from Nick Drake to Herman Hesse to the forests of the Pacific Northwest– which is where Francesconi lives when he’s not trotting the globe.
Speaking of– if you’re a fan of Joanna Newsom, the name Ryan Francesconi is probably already familiar to you, since he’s been one of her key players for several years, leading her live touring performers in the Ys Street Band and arranging/playing on just about every song on her new triple album, Have One On Me. They’re kicking off their summer West Coast tour of the States tonight in San Diego, California. Newsom had this to say about Parables:
“Ryan Francesconi is one of the most awe-inspiring musicians I’ve known. On “Parables,” he distills his many realms of artistry […] into a beautifully minimalist, poetic, intricate, emotionally realized study of themes, variations, organic counterpoint, and such devastating forays into fractal-metric out-lands that it is nearly impossible to believe he’s picking those strings with just one hand. This is solo music that sounds like an ensemble, an ecstatic and measured reconciliation of West African / Balkan / Baroque / bluegrass influences, which ultimately resembles nothing I know.”
Pick up Parables on vinyl over at Drag City (they’re currently sold out of the CD), or in Mp3 format from CD Baby or iTunes.
July 29th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
“American bluegrass, Bulgarian folk, jazz improvisation and Baroque lute music.” – what an excellent combination! And I love the Toids, yet I didn’t recognize the name, so shame on me . I’ve already started listening to one or two tracks and am all a-swoon…thanks for sharing this.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
I just finished listening to this album all the way through for the first time and its really exceptional.
November 11th, 2010 at 3:15 am
[…] Parables, the first album under his own name and out in Europe via Drag City distribution, is intended as a deeply personal attempt to realise all compositional potential he could using just the one simple instrument: Ryan recorded the album live and using no overdubs, and his solo acoustic guitar creates an impossibly rich sound that hints at his extensive musical interests – American bluegrass, Baroque lute music, traditional Bulgarian folk (he is a Balkan music scholar) and jazz improvisation. He does it all live. ‘One of the most awe-inspiring musicians I’ve known … This is solo music that sounds like an ensemble … it is nearly impossible to believe he’s picking those strings with one hand’ – Joanna Newsom ‘Recorded live, the music is graceful and green with nods of kinship to everyone from Nick Drake to Herman Hesse to the forests of the Pacific Northwest’ – Coilhouse […]