Matthew De Gennaro
Humbled Down

[Click here for audio sample]
 

 

Following the Wire's declaration of the 'new weird america' and more specifically pigeon-holing artists as remote as Jack Rose, the Jewelled Antler collective, Matt Valentine, Six Organs of Admittance and who knows what else into a genre they termed 'outsider folk', there has been an ever rising tide of new players delving into the arena of instrumental acoustic guitar.  Yet in that pile-up, the work of one Matthew De Gennaro has been completely missed.  A web search will turn up virtually nothing, and when he does turn up it is as a footnote in the New Zealand scene where, paired with Alastair Galbraith, he turned out a highly experimental performance on the legendary Corpus Hermeticum label.

All that said, Matt is obscure for no reason I can understand.  Humbled Down is about as good as this sort of solo guitar thing gets, with its pastoral shades and imaginative playing that might remind a few of Roy Montgomery's elegant Temple IV (Kranky) and Songs from the South Island (Drunken Fish). 

"We hear very atmospheric moods with some minimal layers of colours that fit perfectly on top of each other, like in the old fashioned way of painting, where ground colours gleam through giving the perfect glance and makes certain focused parts livelier. One of these layers is done in moments with some environmental sounds, like birds or crickets. On “Natura” it shows the peaceful environment completely, with half-experimental sounds that have a very natural feel ; the image it creates is like a mixture of a baby chamber, or a barn as a recording place, with some animals in the surroundings, and with an organ as the reflection of the inner man’s soul, while man listens, and has his inner responses to nature’s pulses. The organ, and sometimes harmonica and some other droning effects, usually stimulates the mood. The acoustic guitar lead is the most descriptive part. But often also the resonance chamber is melting with the other sounds when it becomes its environment and surrounding, -droning- space. Although the acoustic guitar almost everywhere leads the meandering descriptions, I heard also other instruments, like the accompanying second fingerpicking instrument, the banjo, something like cello or violin, and perhaps a few more instruments. A very beautiful, very descriptive musical trip with a reflective environmental soundscape for inner peace."-- PSYCHEDELIC & ACID FOLK MUSIC (Gerald Van Waes)