microphones in the trees: jon collin / serfs

Sunday, April 07, 2013

jon collin / serfs


"Here’s one of  Winebox Press’s rare vinyl outings, this time from slide guitar droner Jon Collin, a continuation of his two ‘High Peak Vibrations’ cassettes. It’s got six improvisations in total, taken from performances in Manchester, Salford and Sheffield during 2012.

It’s quite lo-fi stuff with roomy acoustics and plenty of space to the sound as Collin manoeuvres his way around the fretboard delicately and patiently, mixing drones, fingerpicked twanging and slide guitar wibble along with a fair smattering of jarring and visceral fret buzz and string squeak. It’s a slow moving and very physical journey full of dusky splay-fingered little musical shapes, string twang and harmonic ding, Collin’s hypnotic yet unpredictable style never letting the listener get completely comfortable, but not alienating them with impenetrable harshness either. If semi-abstract solo guitar improvisations are your bag this isn’t bad at all!" norman records

listen ~ buy 


"this one is all acoustic, mixed nylon and steel, and comes wrapped in the remains a weathered wooden armchair found outside the late Hunters Arms, Chisworth, in an edition of 57 copies."


"The UK’s Jon Collin is in a ton of projects (The Whole Voyald, Vampire Blues, John Fante, etc.) and runs what is possibly one of my favorite labels ever: Winebox Press. His side of the ‘Solo Guitar’ boxset floored me and now here we are with a beautiful set from Serfs. a glossy sparse web of clean ringing guitar reminiscent of Loren Connors. Emotional without ever becoming melodramatic... " cabin floor esoterica


"Jon Collin’s latest album of ambient-guitar music under the name Serfs is a pretty lonely and lackadaisical affair. Rather than using significant atmospherics or looping, Collin relies on a completely clean electric guitar and an empty room to create a beautiful and singular work, sounding like an even sparser version of Matthew Mullane’s still-fantastic solo acoustic LP from earlier this year. Great end of summer transitioning tunes" zen effects

 sold out ~ download


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