James Blackshaw - O True Believers (2006) [Re-up]

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James Blackshaw - O True Believers (2006) [Re-up]

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When UK native James Blackshaw plays his 12-string, something spiritual takes place - the unassuming 23-year-old is transformed into a guitar god whose name belongs alongside the likes of Jack Rose, Steffen Basho-Junghans and Glenn Jones. Time after time, Blackshaw hits out of the park, consistently breaking boundaries in what could be conceived as a somewhat limited medium. O True Believers is the latest in a string of impressive releases, all with their own mood and inspiration. Consisting of mainly solo 12-string acoustic guitar played in a finger-picked style not dissimilar to Robbie Basho, Blackshaw has devised new tunings and new techniques, both of which are in full display here. The album is occasionally embellished with other instruments, such as the Hindustani tamboura and a specially tuned psaltery of Eastern-European origin called a cymbala. This is James Blackshaw at his most vulnerable and sincere, and with that comes two rare and wonderful qualities: truth and freedom.

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James Blackshaw - O True Believers (2006) [Re-up]

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James Blackshaw both plays and writes with a maturity and inventiveness that belie his youth (he recorded this album at 23). There are few 12-string guitar players his age who would dare to attempt a full-length, all-instrumental acoustic solo album, and even fewer who could carry it off if they tried. But Blackshaw does it in style, and does it all by himself. The album's four tracks include some multi-tracking, and Blackshaw varies the musical texture by adding Indian elements (tanpura and harmonium on "The Elk with Jade Eyes") and percussion ("O True Believers"), but the dense center of his music is the guitar itself, fingerpicked in a rolling, glistening style that sometimes brings to mind Robbie Basho and at other times John Fahey. While his music conveys moments of dark mournfulness and of spiky irritability, the overwhelming feeling this album communicates is one of subdued but very real joy. The music is generally tonal and harmonically straightforward, and it is one testament to his startling gifts as a composer that it's almost impossible to tell when Blackshaw is improvising and when he's performing prewritten music.

Review by Rick Anderson, Allmusic

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James Blackshaw - O True Believers (2006) [Re-up]

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