Inhale that precious country air, cold and crisp. Folk heroes – heroes!
– Padang Food Tigers (the UK’s Stephen Lewis and Spencer Grady) have teamed
with Norwegian harmonium player Sigbjørn Apeland to craft the most intimate
cassette release that I’ve heard in maybe forever – but hey, why let a little
hyperbole stop me? It’s the most intimate cassette release of all time. There, I have your attention, and now you can be
transported to the front porch of a rustic cabin on a cliff overlooking a fjord
in the blinding sunlight of an early spring afternoon. The sun sparkles off the
water and the patches of snow, the green grass whispers in the breeze, and your
chair creaks on the floorboards. There’s actually quite a bit of chair-creaking
and other ambient room noises on Bumblin’
Creed, asserting the players’ intention to capture specific moments and
particular environmental touches. The languid folk stretches over the
peacefulness of time and space, recalling such luminaries as John Fahey, Loren
Connors, and even Olivier Messiaen, a French composer whose organ works
permeate as inspiration. But all of this is covered in the press – you really
haven’t done yourself any favors until you immerse yourself in Bumblin’ Creed’s pastoral beauty. How
can you not feel hope and contentment with a tune like “Barley a Breath in Your
Parenthesis” wafting over the meadow? Or the call to spiritual awakening of
“It’s in Thee, Frittering Away”? And did I mention, there are no words to trip
up the dreamer, nothing to detract from the sense of personal discovery and
betterment? It’s as if this cassette exists as a primer, a companion, and a
portal, an artifact whose sole purpose is to assist one through life. Maybe that’s
the case – you can sit, you can dream, you can exist, or you can stand and move
forward, exhibiting the serenity that Padang Food Tigers and Sigbjørn Apeland
conjure in their playing, projecting that serenity into the lives of others.
Ugh, FFS, I’m gonna say “pay it forward,” aren’t I? I totally didn’t intend to
end up there, but hey, I did. Make everybody happy. Play Bumblin’ Creed anywhere people go for anything, be it a remote
Scandinavian precipice or a crowded train station. Let the vibes unfurl and
change lives. I’m a new man at the end of this.
--Ryan Masteller
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