Nick Jonah Davis

House Of Dragons

Image of Nick Jonah Davis - House Of Dragons
Record Label
Thread Recordings

About this item

The esteemed Nick Jonah Davis, back with his 2nd album proper on the wonderful Thread Recordings (the people who brought you DBH's amazing "Mood" LP from last year and also the C Joynes / Davis split from earlier this year). Title track, "House Of Dragons" gets us underway with a purposeful five-fingered battle cry, Davis wielding his medieval sounding axe in rich open-tuning as an intriguing and highly expressive opening track rings from the gallows. Running effortlessly into the frenetic finger picked passages of "Pili Pala', you'd be forgiven to thinking you'd run into some Caravaggio scene, surrounded by chiming lutes and ancient princesses as the theme continues into "Howie Heads For The Hills". "Double Peace" stops us dead in our tracks with cerebral tickling harmonics and deep undertones, it's languid, patient and deliberate notes ringing on as if they'd existed since the dawn of time itself. The wonderfully named "Zanzibar Chai" takes the album into the eastern scales smoothly and still keeping cohesive to the full picture. "The Stansville Strut" sees Davis visit some buck stomping blues, albeit peppered with his own idiosyncratic licks and picks while "Farewell Sad Flower" begins to bring the album to a logical conclusion with its serene and melancholic sequences closing off this emotionally dramatic and stimulating story. Finally, "The Illumination Of Nelson Fortune" trails out in a blaze of glory; deep mystical didgeridoo accompanying desert fried slide guitar and an attack of choppy acoustic goodness. Sealing off a damn near perfect long player for anyone with a penchant for the acoustic guitar. If you like DBH, John Fahey, Bert Jansch or Scott Walker then this album is for you! Highly recommended.

TRACK LISTING

House Of Dragons
Pila Pala
Howie Heads For The Hills
Double Peace
Zanzibar Chai
The Peace Of Running Water
The Stansville Strut
When THe Fhish Fly And The Seas Run Dry
Farewell Sad Flower
The Illumination Of Nelson Fortune

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