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Welsh guitarist Gwenifer Raymond brings her 'Welsh Primitive' style to Lisbon, with material from 'Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark' and virtuosic fingerpicking rooted in American Primitive music.

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Decades and decades after the birth of Blind Joe Death at the hands of John Fahey, his transfiguration continues to this day, unresolved and haunted by the ghosts of Takoma and of those who preceded it. From that primordial heritage, the fingerpicking in the dust of blues, folk, country, ragtime and the wide open spaces of the 'American Primitive' of Fahey, Robbie Basho or Leo Kotke, to Jack Rose (R.I.P.), Steffen Basho-Juggens or Norberto Lobo, there emerges, as in many histories of more restricted knowledge, a lineage quartered for male (and white) hegemony. But at a time when historical linearity has been repeatedly called into question and, as Grayson Haver Currin wrote a few years ago in the New York Times, 'a new generation of players is rapidly changing that'. Following the well-trodden paths of Marisa Anderson or Kaki King, names such as Sarah Louise, Yasmin Williams or Gwenifer Raymond have been earning a deserved place in the enclave. Without hiding the influence, half inescapable, of Fahey, 'almost, by definition, my mean uncle figure', Raymond also acknowledges that traditional roles are disappearing and, since the release of You Were Never Much Of A Dancer on the ever-respectable Tompkins Square in 2018, has been giving a precious contribution to that change. Keeping her ties with the Tompkins Square house for her second album, Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain (2020), she entered a sheltered period as far as releases go, with an unusual 4″ postal single and the cassette Live at MOTH Club mediating the release of her third album, on We Are Busy Bodies, in 2025, Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark. A document that consolidates her 'Welsh Primitive', a good-humoured and succinct reflection of her origins and life in Wales transposed into the stories and landscapes of a music full of lyricism but with a ferocious attack on the strings, capable of drawing memorable and hypnotic melodic plots from a virtuosic technique without show-off. Inspired by a lasting fascination with science fiction, Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark takes particular hold of the visions of the Tom O'Bedlam character from Grant Morrison's comic series The Invisibles, to arrive from there at her own visions, in a time capsule that projects Welsh folklore out of time and place, among dense filigrees, dronish passages, a certain stellar melancholy and that attack, always impetuous and felt. BS.

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Décadas e décadas volvidas desde o nascimento de Blind Joe Death pelas mãos de John Fahey e a sua transfiguração continua ainda hoje, irresoluta e assombrada pelos fantasmas da Takoma e daqueles que a precederam. Dessa herança primordial, o fingerpicking na poeira dos blues, da folk, da country, ragga e dos grandes espaços da ‘American Primitive’ de Fahey, Robbie Basho ou Leo Kotke a Jack Rose (D.E.P.), Steffen Basho-Juggens ou Norberto Lobo ressalta, como em muitas histórias do saber mais restritas, uma linhagem esquartejada para a hegemonia masculina (e branca). Mas numa altura em que a linearidade histórica tem sido posta repetidas vezes em causa e como Grayson Haver Currin escreveu há uns anos no New York Times ‘a new generations of players is rapidly changing that’. Na senda dos caminhos já muito trilhados por Marisa Anderson ou Kaki King, nomes como Sarah Louise, Yasmin Williams ou Gwenifer Raymond têm vindo a conquistar um merecido espaço no enclave. Sem esconder a influência, meio inescapável, de Fahey, ‘almost, by definition, my mean uncle figure’, Raymond reconhece também que os papéis tradicionais estão a desaparecer e tem vindo, desde a edição de You Were Never Much Of A Dancer na sempre respeitável Tompkins Square em 2018, a dar contributo precioso para essa mudança. Mantendo a ligação à casa de Tompkins Square para o seu segundo álbum , Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain , 2020 -, entrou num período resguardado no que respeita a edições, com um inusitado single postal de 4″ e a cassete Live at MOTH Club a mediarem a edição do seu terceiro álbum, na We Are Busy Bodies, em 2025 , Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark . Documento que sedimenta a sua ‘Welsh Primitive’, reflexo bem humorado e sucinto das suas origens e vivências no País de Gales a trespassar nas histórias e paisagens para uma música plena de lirismo mas de ataque feroz às cordas, capaz de sacar enredos melódicos memoráveis e hipnotizantes a partir de uma técnica virtuosa sem show off. Inspirado num fascínio duradouro pela ficção científica, Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark pega particularmente nas visões da personagem de Tom O’Bedlam da série de BD The Invisibles de Grant Morrison, para daí chegar às suas próprias visões, numa cápsula temporal que projecta o folclore do País de Gales para fora de tempo e lugar, entre rendilhados densos, passagens dronescas, uma certa melancolia estelar e aquele ataque, sempre impetuoso e sentido. BS.