PRE-ORDER NATHAN BOWLES‘ PLAINLY MISTAKEN:
$9.00 – $29.00
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It’s been a minute, but hopefully this transmission is worth worth the wait. Here’s what Bill Callahan has to say about Nathan Bowles and his new album Plainly Mistaken:
“Nathan is brainy and bookish and likes whiskey. He has that intense air that can fall away to mirth. His approach to music appears curious, knowledgeable, playful, intuitive, still. He knows he has a thing going on, and that he can apply that thing to things! To many different things. Maybe that thing is the grand blankness of seeing everything at once. Or maybe it is a pinhole vision that soothes and subjects in its narrowness.
“I think these new songs nurture their dialectic opposites, and that is their appeal—the drone has the aspect of melody, the melody has the aspect of drone. I don’t think Nathan has ever ridden a dolphin, but I think if faced with the task he would cotton quick. That’s how I see his approach to his music.”
We agree wholeheartedly. On his playfully subversive fourth solo album, Bowles (Steve Gunn, Pelt, Black Twig Pickers) extends his acclaimed banjo and percussion practice into the full-band realm for the first time, showcasing both delicate solo meditations and smoldering, swinging ensemble explorations featuring Casey Toll (Jake Xerxes Fussell, Mt. Moriah) on double bass and Rex McMurry (CAVE) on drums. As he considers the cycles of deceit and self-deception that shape both our personal and political lives, a mixed mood of melancholy and merriment permeates Bowles’s own compositions as well as the interpretive material, which draws from traditional Appalachian repertoires and the diverse songbooks of Julie Tippetts, Cousin Emmy, and Silver Apples.
Today NPR Music has premiered album centerpiece “The Road Reversed,” about which Lars Gotrich writes:
“As the 10-minute track evolves, there are moments of punk-driven percussion and elliptical melodies turned all the way around, but its simultaneously ecstatic and droning composition recalls moments from A Monastic Trio by Alice Coltrane. Like Coltrane, Bowles tears open a tiny piece of fabric in the folk music continuum to let in the cosmic debris.”
Contingent on manufacturing schedules, we will ship your pre-ordered album approximately a week in advance of the October 5, 2018 worldwide release date. All pre-orders include an immediate 320k MP3 download of lead single “The Road Reversed“, as premiered by NPR.
For digital-only preorders, please visit Bandcamp (which also offers uncompressed, high-resolution audio files) or your favorite digital marketplace.
Nathan’s first two PoB albums—Nansemond and Whole & Cloven—are now both on sale for 20% off when you use coupon code MISTAKEN during checkout on our website through October 5.
NATHAN BOWLES LIVE DATES
07.25.18 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Das Hund House (5516 Wendell Rd.) w/Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors), Tashi Dorji
08.02.18 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook w/Rosali
09.06.18 – Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch (Trio Set)
09.15.18 – Chicago, IL @ Trouble In Paradise Fest at the Empty Bottle (Duo Set with Jake Fussell)
10.06.18 – Louisville, KY @ Cropped Out w/Bill McKay
Photo by Brad Bunyea.
MORE ACCLAIM FOR NATHAN BOWLES
“Nathan’s music is marked by both his deep study of vernacular American forms and his years-long dedication to the development of his own voice. He is a musician who respects tradition as he values experimentation, an artist whose work commands careful listening. This balance is what makes Nathan’s voice singular: as a player, he is fearless, challenging. And as a listener, I am grateful and inspired.” – Steve Gunn
“Nathan Bowles is like my spirit animal. It’s the real shit … beautiful then, beautiful now. Timeless.” – Kurt Vile
“Splits the difference between Jack Rose-ian acoustic romps and Henry Flynt-y drone jigs. A portal through time.” – NPR Music
“Bowles has the power to transform the sound of a banjo—and folk music—into something transcendental … something boundless and new. [He’s] a crucial force in folk music, showcasing his ability to interweave the genre’s communal spirit with chilling moments of ambient introspection.” – Pitchfork
RIYL: Steve Gunn, Jake Xerxes Fussell, the Black Twig Pickers, Pelt, Jack Rose, Michael Chapman, Bill Callahan, Josh Abrams and Natural Information Society, Daniel Bachman, Marisa Anderson, William Tyler, Hiss Golden Messenger, Mary Lattimore, CAVE, Henry Flynt, Clive Palmer, Terry Riley, Julie Tippetts.
Photo by Brad Bunyea.
Ride the dolphin.