blue fifty-two: GUE

GUE are David Grundy, Laurel Uziell and Jacken Elswyth – composers, improvisers, poets and producers who have previously collaborated on a split release for Jacken’s Betwixt and Between label, and who appear here in collaboration as a trio for the first time.

This entrancing scrabble of banjo, accordion, autoharp, electronics and miscellaneous found objects is made out of folk sounds, but rearranged into new shapes. Improvisations that feel both inscrutable and instinctive, like the players are transcribing a new musical language in real time.

The contrast of electronic, acoustic and unnameable other textures from found objects and self-fashioned soundmakers give blue fifty-two the feeling of a traditional folk art of the future.

Folk music for a people who haven’t yet been born.

Praise for Jacken Elswyth

“Elswyth is a banjo player fascinated with old mountain tunes and the power of the drone… her sounds are regularly beautiful and raw, augmented by scratches, tension and twang.” – The Guardian

“When she plays, it’s potent and powerful, revealing a depth of engagement with folk music’s strange qualities and its capacity to reveal something uncanny to the modern ear.” – Uncut

“Elswyth’s album is sophisticated and accomplished, a folk thesis for our times. It is a significant achievement, clever and thoroughly enjoyable, brimming with atmosphere, energy and fantastic tunes.” – The Quietus

“Elswyth’s approach to the instrument is where the staying power lies. She’s an emotive player with high technical ability. Further, she builds banjos and other instruments, and that intimate knowledge of the bones and fibers holding everything together means that her playing has very few cracks.” – Foxy Digitalis

“One of those albums that stops you in your tracks not once but twice: firstly, with the sheer excellence of Elswyth’s playing and then, if you dig a little deeper, with the breadth of its implications. This is instrumental music that has a lot to say, and it says it with verve, lightness and great skill.” – KLOF Mag

“An intriguing and unexpected creation; challenging, experimental, but not without moments of real meditation.” – Tradfolk