Alexander: The Pale Light Over the Dark Hills
C/Site Recordings

Available in a limited edition of 250 vinyl copies, The Pale Light Over the Dark Hills is a one-time repress of a cassette David Alexander Shapiro issued in 2017. After its release, it became a favourite at C/Site headquarters, which led to the decision to release it a second time, now as a twelve-inch. The release exudes an intimate, home-made character with the acoustic guitarist's solo playing complemented by handcrafted artwork by Isabela Jeronimo that appears on the front and back covers. While the press release identifies the finger-picker as kin to John Fahey and Robbie Basho (Shapiro's also a longtime collaborator and touring partner of fellow guitarist Rob Noyes), he's less flashy though no less endearing a player.

In keeping with that self-effacing persona, the seven tracks—five on side A and a sixteen-minute meditation and short epilogue (the latter not included on the cassette version) on the flip—are largely uncluttered statements that range from the melancholy and tenderness of the plodding opener to the spirited animation and precise picking of the breezy second. He's no grandstander, but the poise with which the runs are executed on the latter show him to be a skilled and confident practitioner of the art. The jaunty third kicks up some serious dust with its bluesy twang and descending figures, after which nostalgic reflection seeps in with the advent of the slow and wistful fourth. At side's end, track five evokes the feel of a dusty trek across the open plains, the horses' hooves moving slowly and the sun beating down.

In its first minutes, side B's epic picks up where its predecessors left off, but eventually, having patiently worked through a series of oscillating picking patterns and metronomic rhythms, the pace quickens and the intensity rises. With the music growing ever more dense, dust storm of blues figures and syncopated patterns intertwine until the mass begins to take on the unstoppable force of an eighteen-wheeler. A brief episode of calm instates itself, but it proves to be a bit of a smokescreen when the tempo accelerates and the picking grows ever more furious, the whole creating the impression of a train just barely clinging to the rails. Having returned safely home, the piece gives way to the epilogue, two minutes of becalmed, single-note musings to give the listener a satisfying sense of resolution.

June 2019