Dean McPhee’s fifth full length album 'Astral Gold' sees the Yorkshire-based electric guitarist's music continue to evolve beyond the spacious folk-inspired fingerpicking that typified his earlier releases into a heavier sound combining deep bass, textured reverbs and waves of saturated delay. 'Astral Gold' brings together several now out-of-print tracks that were originally released on the Reverb Worship and Folklore Tapes labels, along with two brand new pieces – all recorded live in single takes. There is a cosmic theme throughout, including a track based on the local lore of The Ilkley Alien (The Second Message), a trance-inducing drone piece inspired by the orbit of the 'doomed moon' Triton (Neptune) and a meditation on lunar volcanism combining baroque melodies, EBow bass and found recordings of a crackling fire played through guitar pickups (Lunar Fire).

Throughout this intricately layered and beautifully crafted album McPhee draws on a wide range of influences from Kosmische Muzik and Dub to Stoner/Doom Rock, British Folk and underground electronic music, and the result is both intoxicatingly atmospheric and sonically inventive. ‘Astral Gold’ was mastered and cut by Anne Taegert at Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin and is pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl. ‘Astral Gold’ follows Dean McPhee’s recent appearances this year on several well received compilation albums ‘I Thought I Told You: A Yorkshire Tribute to Michael Chapman’ on the Tompkins Square label, ‘Ballads of Seduction, Fertility & Ritual Slaughter’ released by Wasistdas, and Folklore Tapes’ limited edition cassette ‘A Web of Braided Willow (The Folklore of the Wickerman)’. "His take on the late folk guitarist’s ‘Caddo Lake’ could have you believing the pinch of callous on string was birdsong – a meditative gem" (Noel Gardner, The Quietus) "Magpahi's synth-drizzled Maypole, Dean McPhee's Sunset and Meg Baird's Willow's Song are particularly gorgeous" (Jude Rogers. The Guardian) "An excellent new single from UK guitarist Dean McPhee...the A-side is an echo-laden slice of smoldering instrumental guitar, pulling at the mind like taffy and living up to its cosmic title" (Raven Sings the Blues) "Absolutely lovely stuff; shimmering, gorgeous, delicate electric guitar playing of the very highest quality" (Gavin McNamara, Tradfolk.co). 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've loved everything Dean McPhee has done thus far, having only started listening to his music about 5 years ago i've had to backtrack but it's become clear that his skill for crafting intricate soundworlds and beautiful, evocative dreamstates is only increasing. 'Astral Gold' is exactly that, a glimmering treasure in his catalog and another reason that you need to listen to McPhee's work, as much a collection as it is a fully-fledged album.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cosmos
2. Ether
3. Neptune
4. Lunar Fire
5. The Second Message
6. The Sediment Of Creation

"Witch's Ladder" is the fourth full length album from UK guitarist Dean McPhee, whose last LP "Four Stones" (2018) introduced a kick drum pulse, hypnotic loops and synth-like Ebow lines to his sparsely meditative, echo-laden solo guitar music.

On this new album he uses his Telecaster, valve amp and effects to weave an even deeper spell, as fingerpicked melodies soar over hypnotic riffs, looped basslines and cosmic reverb trails. Recorded live with no overdubs and inspired by folklore, mysticism and the landscapes of the North of England, "Witch's Ladder" represents a significant evolution in his sound, while also retaining the unique sense of depth and space that has drawn comparison with the likes of Loren Connors, Dylan Carlson and Popul Vuh. The cover art to "Witch's Ladder" features the stunning 1933 painting "The Primal Wing" by Agnes Pelton, a visionary symbolist who was not widely known during her lifetime but is now being recognised as a pioneer of spiritual abstract art alongside the likes of Hilma Af Klimt and Wassily Kandinsky. "Witch's Ladder" is to be announced on the 8th January, 2021, which will coincide with the release of a video for the opening track "The Alchemist". Directed and filmed by Harry Wheeler (Architects of Harmonic Rooms and Records), the video features breathtaking footage of Dean performing on a misty hillside at Bolton Woods quarry near his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire. (click the image below to view an unlisted link which will be made public on 08/01/21). This album is the twelfth release on the Hood Faire label, a venture overseen by Sam McLoughlin (Samandtheplants/Tongues of Light), David Chatton Barker (Folklore Tapes) and Dean McPhee.

The 180g vinyl version of the album (ltd 500 copies) was pressed by Vinyl Factory in the UK and mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering. “Over the course of the last decade, Dean McPhee has quietly and unhurriedly established himself as one of most compelling and unique solo guitar artists around, weaving gorgeously meditative reveries with a masterful use of ghostly delay effects” (Brainwashed)

TRACK LISTING

1.The Alchemist
2.The Alder Tree
3.Red Lebanese
4.Eskdale Path
5.Witch’s Ladder