Search - Stone Breath :: Silver Skein Unwound

Stone Breath in Hipster ear

Bryan S. Cederberg | kalamazoo, mi United States | 07/05/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"tim renner knows wyrdfolk. he should, he coined the term. with the current flock of "neofolk" artists gathering a surprising amount of press 'round their nests, stone breath are somehow absent. perhaps they're outdated. can folk music be dated? is a clock? what about a cirle? wyrdfolk, or folk for those who have tired of the term, is unique in that it is rooted in the base images that compose the human spirit. it sounds like a walk through mythago wood, or jung's collective unconscious. so in a sense, the last note is the same as the first note. no, there is no such thing as new in folk, there is only expression. we begin with the pot, all we can do is stir it. the ingredients are god given, and called by their old names. so why then, after numerous trips, requests, and inquiries was it so difficult to obtain a copy of 'the silver skein unwound' at the hippest record stores in new york city? i mean espers is displayed, so is joanna, and devendra is everywhere. is mr. renner and company hiding in the record clerk's beard? perhaps they're in his coworkers belly, gestating, waiting for the right moment to be name dropped. no, it's more likely, stone breath are in the woods, outside the city, far beyond the high rises and subways with their ears to the ground listening to what came before industry. peeling the layers back and joining in. without a care for the band of the moment, the sound of the day, the next big thing. they play for the trees and what lays beyond the branches. stone breath are a religious band. a chorus, a group of friends, a fellowship; earth, air, fire, and water. an otherworldly experience, they are the eye in the 'clash of the titans', they are the witches from macbeth, they are wyrdfolk. and i'll tell you a secret, they're a really cool band. and you know what else? 'the silver skein unwound' is probably the best album you haven't heard of in your social circles, and if by chance you have, you haven't given it a chance because you're just now being whispered to, you're just now being told, with tongue in ear, you're being told for a second time, that stonebreath is a very cool band. why? if tim's distinctive voice, his well carved guitar, the banjo clock, tick tock, tick tock, prydwyn's rainy voice, his snake oil salesman flute, sarada's yin, her hopeful voice, and ra campbell's memory don't provide an answer; you can always say: "the guy who started bruton town told me so.""