Womblife

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Womblife
Womblife.jpg
Studio album by
John Fahey
ReleasedAugust 12, 1997
Recorded1996
Genre Experimental, avant-garde
Length45:29
Label Table of the Elements
Producer Jim O'Rourke, John Fahey
John Fahey chronology
The Mill Pond
(1997)		Womblife
(1997)		 The Epiphany of Glenn Jones
(1997)

Womblife is an album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1997. It was one of three releases by Fahey that year.

Contents

History

Womblife continues John Fahey's career resurgence, again bearing minimal resemblance to his earliest work. It incorporates sound collages and experimental music.

Working with Jim O’Rourke, Fahey taped Womblife in the younger musician’s bedroom. O'Rourke has been long associated with the experimental and improv scene, frequently citing Fahey as an influence on his work. Echo, loops and samples along with guitar are used in musique concrète, a style Fahey used as far back as 1968's Requia . [1] O'Rourke plays guitar on "Juana". [2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Great Folk Discography 7/10 [5]

Womblife was one of three releases by John Fahey in 1997. All three (including the album City of Refuge and the EP The Mill Pond ) were experimental and avant-garde and were unexpected by his long-time fan base. Music critic Brian Olewnick of AllMusic highly recommended the release, writing, "This is not your father's John Fahey", and calling it "one of the more overtly experimental albums in the Fahey catalog and also one of the most fascinatingly beautiful." [3] He cited "Juana" as a more conventional track.

Richard Gehr referred to it as "echoing", an "innovative electric album". [6] Stewart Voegtlin of Stylus Magazine called it "... a complex record that marries musique concrete to bottleneck blues. It doesn’t always work: one often strains to hear the guitar over the invasive din." [7]

Reissues

Track listing

All songs by John Fahey.

  1. "Sharks" – 9:20
  2. "Planaria" – 9:54
  3. "Eels" – 6:13
  4. "Coelacanths" – 7:28
  5. "Juana" – 12:34

Personnel

Production notes:

References

  1. ↑ Taylor, Derek (December 2006). "Review: Sea Changes & Coelacanths: A Young Person's Guide to John Fahey". Dusted Magazine. Retrieved April 5, 2010.
  2. ↑ Lowenthal, Steve (2014). Dance of Death: The Life of John Fahey, American Guitarist. ISBN   978-1-6137452-2-9.
  3. 1 2 Olewnick, Brian. "Review: Womblife". AllMusic . Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  4. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN   978-0-85712-595-8.
  5. ↑ Strong, Martin Charles (2010). The great folk discography. Volume 1, Pioneers & early legends. ISBN   9781846971419.
  6. ↑ Gehr, Richard. "Tormented Genius John Fahey had Rekindled Creative Fire". VH1. Archived from the original on May 11, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  7. ↑ Voegtlin, Stewart (February 2002). "Review: Sea Changes & Coelacanths: A Young Person's Guide to John Fahey". Stylus Magazine .
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