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CD
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IMPREC 407CD
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Summoning Suns is James Blackshaw's tenth studio album and the first recording to feature his voice and lyrics. Drawing inspiration from '60s and '70s singer-songwriters, baroque and orchestral pop, and folk music, while still sounding contemporary, Summoning Suns is Blackshaw's foray into more traditional forms of songcraft. Blackshaw sings in a gentle but assured voice while his words combine his personal experiences, neuroses, and fantasies through many layers of abstraction, poeticism, and dark humor. While the deft acoustic guitar fingerpicking of Blackshaw's previous recordings is still a prominent part of the sound, the songs are lushly and intricately arranged for drums, bass, piano, violin, flute, and pedal steel guitar and feature contributions from Simon Scott (Slowdive), Annie Nilsson, and Japanese musicians Mori Wa Ikiteiru and Kaoru Noda (with whom Blackshaw duets in Japanese on one song). LP pressed in a first edition of 500 copies.
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LP
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IMPREC 407LP
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LP
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BF 006LP
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Apologia is the first solo guitar recording by James Blackshaw, which he self-released in 2003 on CD-R in an edition of 30. Bladud Flies! now presents a limited vinyl edition of 500 copies. "Apologia was written on a cheap Yamaha guitar with a ridiculously high action over the course a couple of months in 2002 and recorded in February 2003, a few months before I picked up a 12-string guitar for the first time and wrote and recorded my first release, Celeste. I'd just started fingerpicking and had gotten comfortable enough with some techniques to experiment with open tunings of my own devising and write my own compositions, which were at that time very inspired by the musicians I adored -- John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and lots of old country blues players like Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake, and Reverend Gary Davis. I burned about 30 CD-Rs with homemade covers in jewel cases, gave most to friends and family and sold a few in the record shop I used to work in Soho. I felt for some time afterward like I was only just starting to find my own voice with Apologia -- the songs are shorter and more straightforward and the cyclical structures and appreciation of drones and overtones really came to the fore later on, as did my appreciation of adding other instrumentation and experimenting with sounds generally. Plus, I wasn't entirely happy with the sound of the recording (some small EQ changes and reverb was added for this edition) and let's just say the situation in the studio was far from ideal, but that's another story. For that reason, I never chose to reissue Apologia. Now, almost 12 years later, I'm hearing them in a different way, realizing the songs' charms rather than simply concentrating on the flaws. It doesn't sound quite like anything I've ever done since and there's a simplicity and raw energy about them that I've grown to appreciate. It's an interesting snapshot of where I was then and how things have changed. It is an absolute pleasure for me to work with Bladud Flies! to release Apologia as a limited edition LP now -- something I would never have dreamed of back in 2003." --James Blackshaw
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2LP
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TSQ 5029LP
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Gatefold double LP version.
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CD
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TSQ 5012CD
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"In celebration of the centenary of Louis Feuillade's Fantomas silent film series, James Blackshaw was invited by Yann Tiersen to perform a live score to the fifth and final film, Le Faux Magistrat, at the beautiful and prestigious surroundings of the Theatre de Chatelet, Paris on October 31, 2013. Fantomas -- a master of disguise and symbol of terror -- is one of the most popular characters in French crime fiction, as well as a favorite with the avant-garde, particularly the surrealists. Tim Hecker, Amiina, Yann Tiersen and Loney Dear also performed during the event (which was broadcast live on the European ARTE channel) each bringing their own unique sonic perspective to the other installments. Written during the course of a few months, Blackshaw drew influences from French impressionist composers, Brazilian guitar music, musique concrete and the works of other film composers such as David Shire and Pino Donaggio, to create a noir-ish score that is in turns sinister, quietly profound and thrilling. Personally invited by James Blackshaw, experimental musician Duane Pitre and Simon Scott (also of Slowdive) contributed drums, electronics, synth, bowed guitar, bass and more to Blackshaw's nylon string guitar and grand piano, with multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Glasson adding violin, vibraphone and several wind instruments to the 75-minute long work."
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CD
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IMPREC 355CD
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"Important is proud to welcome back James Blackshaw for his first full length since on Important since his breakthrough album O True Believers was released on the label in 2006. James has since forged a remarkable career achieving critical praise for his dexterity, his deep, connected songwriting and his beautiful arrangement. Written at a time of great emotional disquiet, the hauntingly beautiful and bittersweet ninth full-length studio album, Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death', from British guitarist-composer James Blackshaw was recorded at Soma Electronic Music Studios, Chicago in December 2011 by engineer Andrew Hernandez (Balmorhea). The six original pieces contained on the album (whose titles are lovingly misappropriated from those of short stories by the late, great science fiction author James Tiptree Jr AKA Alice B. Sheldon,) are based alternately around nylon-string classical guitar and grand piano, with spare and subtle vibraphone and B3 organ parts overdubbed by Blackshaw himself. Genevieve Beaulieu (Menace Ruine/Preterite) adds her stunning and powerful voice and words to track 'And I Have Come Upon This Place By Lost Ways.' Love Is The Plan is an incredibly warm and intimate recording and perhaps Blackshaw's most concise, consistent and overtly melodic to date."
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LP
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IMPREC 355LP
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CD
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IMPREC 084CD
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"When UK native James Blackshaw plays his 12-string, something spiritual takes place. This 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. Making instrumental, solo, acoustic music that remains consistently interesting and moving is a difficult task. Yet, time after time, Blackshaw hits out of the park, constantly 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. An untrained musician living in the isolated suburban environs of Greater London, Blackshaw draws inspiration not only from the early Takoma Records roster, but from sources as varied as the sublime film-work of Werner Herzog, the books of Richard Brautigan and an endless amount of music: free-jazz, '60s psych, drone, ethnic music and modern-day composers, to name a few."
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