Alexander

Alexander

s/t

Carbon

***Aside from spending the last couple summers teaching music on a remote New England island, David Alexander Shapiro has spent the rest of his time playing with various New Haven heads such as Headroom and Center, as well as accompanying the legendary Kath Bloom at local and various regional tours.To showcase his unique style on a variety of stringed instruments, David presents here, a side of banjo tracks, and a side of mandolin tracks. Continuing on his long tradition of untitled, or barely titled, releases and songs, this release only includes the information banjo side and mandolin side. You can figure out the rest.For the banjo side, one can hear vague echos of Billy Faier's Banjo record on Takoma and the Labyrinths LP by George Stavis from 1969 minus the occult trappings. Avoiding the usual bluegrass hammering of the instrument, opting for almost-classical style melodies, with sweet nostalgia. For the mandolin side, these somewhat looping, dream-like tracks can be compared to the sweeter mandolin passages by Ray Jackson on the early 70's records by Newcastle based band Lindisfarne. Beautiful, descending arpeggios, visualize floating dust in the rays of sunlight, projected late in the day.

Alexander

The Pale Light Over The Dark Hills

C/Site Recordings

***To call The Pale Light Over The Dark Hills a favorite would be a bit of an understatement. Originally released on cassette in 2017, The Pale Light… has never left regular rotation since it made its way to C/Site HQ in the spring of that year. The album is yet another stunning example of the focused and emotive fingerpicking tunes that DAVID ALEXANDER SHAPIRO (HEADROOM, NAGUAL) is becoming so well known for. This set sees Shapiro truly showcase his many moods, with tunes that explore the melancholy, the somber, the trying and the difficult, the content and the serene. Side A features five untitled tracks that move with a confidence and poise beyond Shapiro’s relatively short time on this globe. Indebted to masters like Basho and Fahey but always with a deep originality and unique perspective, Shapiro’s precise playing and exacting touch will bring listeners to places of new understanding and a deeper sense of self. In contrast, side B is dominated by an untitled 16+ minute meditation that starts at home, patiently journeys through peaks and valleys to the absolute brink of control, guitar strings nearly ripped from their saddles, and somehow manages to restrain its way back to peace, calm and eventually, the familiar... home. The album closes with a two-minute epilogue, not included on the original cassette release, pulling together any loose ends that might still be frayed. With his work as a solo artist, along with duties in psychedelic explorer's Headroom and Nagual, Shapiro has positioned...