Go there to buy limited edition CD-R, with silkscreened packaging by Lukas Richarz:

vilainemouche.bandcamp.com/album/earth-plates

01- Volcanique 02- Green Tea Bags 03- Earth Plates 04- Goldfish Blues 05- Josephine 06 -Fort du Roule

All songs written and played by David Durand. Home recorded in Cherbourg, may & june 2014. Artwork by Lukas Richarz. Vilaine Mouche 2014 VM02

SPACEROCKMOUNTAIN

"I get grumpy about writing up music at times. At these times I’ll become detached from this blog, or at best write some reviews that are less reviews than me musing about myself. Check out the Leggy and Menschliche Energie posts to see that for yourself. And I liked those albums, liked them very much, mind you. Just didn’t get my fucking kicks, looking like I can write or whatever by just describing the music. Well, this time I don’t think I have enough words to tell you what the music is about. Magnus Dewi is the moniker used by a Frenchman play a music style that is of a decidedly American origin. So here is my attempt to explain that statement and turn a few people onto a genre of music I hold especially dear and this new French practitioner of it.

Earth Plates is tagged “american primitive” on the bandcamp page, which immediately caught my eye as this is the name given the style of playing done by a personal favorite musician of mine and something of a cultural hero in my life, John Fahey. This man was many things, but perhaps most centrally to this story is that he was a musician that came into adulthood in the period of the 1960s where in folk and blues revivals were gaining tremendous popularity in the United States. Fahey possessed a vast knowledge of American music of all sorts as a record collector, musicologist and songwriter and he didn’t want to pigeonhole his music as “folk” like many of his contemporaries. He incorporated much more than the American folk tradition, pulling from the blues, gospel, bluegrass in the era that provided us with our modern conception of psychedelia to make a raw, essential American music. This has been called American Primitivism and has a listen of adherents to the form, but I still find Fahey’s the supreme example. It isn’t simple by any means, most of the best songs are long numbers that have a droning element in how this use repetition and variation to a degree that parallels the best of avant-garde psychedelic music.

For this to have traveled to Europe and been taken up by a skilled French musician is perhaps one of the more amazing and delightful features of this over globalizing world the internet is pushing us toward. Magnus Dewi has a stripped down, pure sort of interoperation of the style on this album. So skillfully are the songs played if given the album without context I could have mistook for an established player in the American Primitive pantheon like James Blackshaw or Leo Kottke. Earth Plates is an absolute delight to hear and I have already been lost of hours in repeated listening of this magnificence effort.

In case any of you wondered how I found this, it was a submitted album just like the dozens of others that come in every month. Good on Magnus Dewi for finding me, as I don’t know if he heard me go off about John Fahey for several minutes on one of the earlier episodes of the podcast and how I find so much in his personal story, connection to entho-musicology and the sublimeness of his playing to be inspired by. Anything that invokes that strong attachment is wonderful, but to have a musician that can live up to that remarkably high standard is the truly exceptional aspect of this experience for me. So don’t hesitate any longer and give a listen to Earth Plates by Magnus Dewi, put out by the Vilaine Mouche label."


MUSIC IN BELGIUM

"Les apparences sont parfois trompeuses. Lorsque l’on considère ce nom de Magnus Dewi et que l’on écoute sa musique, on pense immédiatement à un Américain perdu dans une ferme des Appalaches qui tricote un folk rural sur une guitare acoustique, dans le dénuement et la simplicité la plus extrême. Et lorsqu’on retire le voile de mystère, on trouve un Français du nom de David Durand qui a adopté ce pseudonyme de Magnus Dewi et qui compose de simples et douces lignes instrumentales quelque part à Cherbourg, sous-préfecture du pluvieux et très normand département de la Manche.

“Earth plates” est le premier album solo de ce musicien qui a acquis de l’expérience dans des groupes comme Cornflakes Heroes ou Mother Mountain. Le dépouillement est ce qui caractérise ce disque qui ne met en avant qu’un seul instrument, la guitare acoustique. Six titres instrumentaux aux noms parfois étranges (“Volcanique”, qui ne l’est pas du tout, “Green tea bags”, “Fort du Roule”, du nom du fort qui domine la ville de Cherbourg) constituent la trame mélancolique et sensible de cet album simple mais doté d’une jolie force évocatrice. David Durand n’a besoin que de sa guitare (hormis un peu de banjo sur le dernier titre) pour construire de jolis tableaux sonores, entre folk américain et blues discret.

Les expérimentations s’étendent parfois (les huit minutes de “Joséphine”) et permettent de flirter avec le psychédélisme et ses aspects orientaux. Le lent voyage prend alors des allures plus tourmentées mais qu’on se rassure : pas de tempête sonore ici, juste une agréable promenade au pays du folk primitif et de la délicatesse guitaristique."


DYING FOR BAD MUSIC

"Superb American Primitive guitar compositions from France. David Durand aka Magnus Dewi recently opened for Daniel Bachman in Paris, FR* and in July he released his solo debut album, after playing for years in bands! He walks confidently through variations of contemporary solo acoustic guitar music in the like of James Blackshaw or M.Mucci. Earth Plates, the title giving track consists of three parts, starting with a beautiful melody line that changes when the noise of an electric guitar starts to unsettle the peaceful atmosphere. It’s building up and tries to get back where it started but at part three the earth plates seems to started moving, as the track gets more intense and he’s working out variations of the starting tune accompanied by a light, but driving cymbal beat. Another quality release in the field of American Primitive tradition. And as the Modern Folk Music of America blog remarked: interesting, because when john fahey coined the term american primitive, he was making an oblique reference to the painting movement known as french primitive. This album is highly recommended. Nothing more to add!"


THE MODERN FOLK MUSIC OF AMERICA

"‘earth plates’ by french guitarist magnus dewi (david durand) is a beautiful meditation in the american primitive tradition. interesting, because when john fahey coined the term american primitive, he was making an oblique reference to the painting movement known as french primitive. at any rate, this is an intricate album of finger picked steel string guitar with occasional flirtations of accompaniment, a little violin, electronics and even banjo here and there. soothing, yet emotional. good stuff."