Where The Spirit Rests Chris Eckman SKU: GRLP1032 Barcode: 4015698118537 18.00 £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Glitterhouse Released Date: 4th June 2021 Buying Format: 1LP Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info The fifth solo album from Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts, Dirtmusic, Distance, Light & Sky) is a deep dive into the vagaries of these extraordinary times. Eckman’s luminous song- writing navigates loss, disorientation, redemption and the search for home. Recorded raw and direct with a small ensemble, the record is framed by expansive sonic textures: treated strings, analogue synth drones and ambient guitars. Where the Spirit Rests was co-produced with British electronic composer Alastair McNeill (Roísín Murphy, Yila) and includes an inspired cast of collaborators: pedal steel maverick Chuck Johnson, avant-garde violinist Catherine Graindorge and Dream Syndicate/Green on Red keyboardist Chris Cacavas. The All Music Guide called Eckman “one of the most underrated U.S. songwriters, a man who can pack a short story into image-laden lyrics.” The new album – Where the Spirit Rests – is amongst his most personal and vivid. A place to which he has been headed all along. This has been a time that’s clawed at our hearts. It’s dug deep into our bones. It’s been a time to reach for touchstones to help us through it all, whether it’s the solace of the familiar or the seeking of something new. For Chris Eckman, the time brought the desire to write songs once more, crafting and shaping the music that would become his new album, Where the Spirit Rests. “I hadn’t played a lot of guitar in the last few years,” explains Eckman (whose other job is running the global music label Glitterbeat). Even before the pandemic tore the world apart, he’d been confronting difficult changes in his personal life. Picking up the instrument again brought a muscle memory, a lifeline. It was a return to the things he’d known for decades as a musician. “From that, some songs came. They weren’t very good at first, then around spring things started to grow.” Songwriting brought a way to navigate his life, to articulate the thoughts and emotions tumbling around his head. At that point, though, they were only songs; he had no thought of making them into an album. “There was no deadline, there wasn’t even a project; I had time to think about words and lines,” he recalls. “I ended up with between 15 and 20 songs. Seven made it onto the record.” Of those seven, the first two on the record (“Early Snow” and “This Curving Track”) came as his writing began to catch fire, while the final three (“Northern Lights,” “Where the Spirit Rests” and “CTFD”) were among the last of the batch. Together, they form a collection of oblique short stories, “an internal dialogue between a person and the outside world,” Eckman says. “It’s a very insular voice, kind of like those Samuel Beckett rolling monologues.” But there’s nothing abstract here. The narrator’s perspective is always firmly rooted in the real world. “I wanted dirt under the fingernails, touching the earth,” he adds. The recording process began as tentatively as the writing. Eckman has years of studio experience, as a performer with The Walkabouts, Dirtmusic and others and as the producer of countless albums. This time, though, he needed things to be different. The whole sound of Where the Spirit Rests is intimate and close. Eckman’s dusty voice and hypnotic acoustic guitar draws the listener into the hushed secrets gradually being revealed. He trusted the collaborators to add what was right. His only instruction was to listen closely and then record what they heard. It was a calculated risk, “but I had it all back in four or five days and I didn’t change a note. I just lined up what they’d done with the original tracks. It turned out to be one of the least deliberately arranged records I’ve ever done.” The contributions ranged from the simplicity of McNeill’s disquieting synth drone under “Early Snow” to ambient country pioneer Chuck Johnson’s atmospheric pedal steel on “This Curving Track.” Eckman was wary about approaching him, as he releases Johnson’s acclaimed albums via his label. But in the end that was no problem; it turned out Johnson had been a fan of Eckman’s former band, The Walkabouts. Old Seattle friend Jon Hyde brought woozy, boozy carousing steel sounds to “Drinking in America,” a track that teeters on a knife-edge of violence – what Eckman calls his “break up with America song.” Violinist Catherine Graindorge, who orchestrated “Cabin Fever” and the title track, brought the kind of colours and unpredictability that’s highlighted her work with John Parish and Nick Cave/Warren Ellis. Chris Cacavas, pulled his Wurlitzer electric piano out of the closet for the subtle gospel shadings on “Where the Spirit Rests.” And Eckman’s long-time Ljubljana cohorts Blaž Celarec (drums) and Žiga Golob (upright bass), provided the supple, resonant groove. Track by track, Where The Spirit Rests unspools patient, lengthy songs. Like a grainy Super-8 film, scene builds upon scene, each revealing a kernel of truth, and the stark honesty at its heart. “I’m interested in how the story is told, the narrative aspects. The elusive details,” Eckman says. “Maybe that makes things not so easy to navigate. You have to mark out a listening space.” Take the time. Follow the curving track that leads from the disorientation of “Early Snow” to the promise of redemption that hangs like hope over “CTFD.” But in these times, it’s still only a tentative destination on the horizon: “I see tomorrow different now/ Both savage and demure/ August comets glistening/ Though still a bit unsure”. Gradually, cautiously, moving towards a place where the spirit can rest. Artist Chris Eckman Genre Rock And Pop Label Glitterhouse Buying Options 1LP Format 1LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings Early Snow This Curving Track Cabin Fever Drinking in America Northern Lights Where the Spirit Rests CTFD Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Chris Eckman and more from Rock And Pop View Product Quick View Chris Eckman Harney County Rock And Pop | Glitterhouse | 180g, 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released 7th February 2014 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Chris Eckman Harney County £21.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Glitterhouse SKU: GRLP785 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released Date: 7th February 2014 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Paul's picks View Product Quick View Painted Shrines Heaven & Holy Rock And Pop | Woodsist | 1LP Released 5th March 2021 £22.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Painted Shrines Heaven & Holy £22.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Woodsist SKU: WOODSIST100 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 5th March 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Frank Zappa The Mothers Of Invention Dutch Courage Vol. 2 Rock And Pop | Parachute | 2LP Released 11th August 2017 £17.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Frank Zappa The Mothers Of Invention Dutch Courage Vol. 2 £17.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Parachute SKU: PARA135LP Formats: 2LP Released Date: 11th August 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Jimi Hendrix Experience Smash Hits Rock And Pop | Sony Legacy | 1LP Released 30th August 2016 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Jimi Hendrix Experience Smash Hits £19.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Sony Legacy SKU: 88985303081 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 30th August 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Anjimile Giver Taker Rock And Pop | Father/Daughter Records | 1LP Released 18th September 2020 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Anjimile Giver Taker £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Father/Daughter Records SKU: FD090LPC2 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 18th September 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Chuck Ragan Till Midnight Rock And Pop | Side One Dummy | 1LP Released 25th March 2014 £11.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Chuck Ragan Till Midnight £11.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Side One Dummy SKU: SD15381 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 25th March 2014 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Disclosure Settle Rock And Pop | Island | 180g, 2LP Released 3rd June 2013 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Disclosure Settle £21.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Island SKU: 3739488 Formats: 180g, 2LP Released Date: 3rd June 2013 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Chicago Chicago II: Live On Soundstage – Collectors Edition Rock And Pop | Rhino | 2LP, Includes CD, Includes DVD Released 24th August 2018 £84.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Chicago Chicago II: Live On Soundstage – Collectors Edition £84.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Rhino SKU: 0603497858187 Formats: 2LP, Includes CD, Includes DVD Released Date: 24th August 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View A Day to Remember For Those Who Have Heart Rock And Pop | Craft Recordings | 1LP Released 6th October 2023 £26.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders A Day to Remember For Those Who Have Heart £26.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Craft Recordings SKU: 7243648 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 6th October 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Bryan Ferry The Right Stuff Rock And Pop | BMG | 12", Coloured Vinyl, EP/Mini Album Released 20th April 2024 £29.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Bryan Ferry The Right Stuff £29.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG SKU: 4099964004700 Formats: 12", Coloured Vinyl, EP/Mini Album Released Date: 20th April 2024 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View These New Puritans Field Of Reeds Rock And Pop | Infectious | 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released 10th June 2013 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders These New Puritans Field Of Reeds £21.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Infectious SKU: INFECT156LP Formats: 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released Date: 10th June 2013 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Rock And Pop Start again
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