Aborea Supported By Yearning Curve
The Roundy
9 Nov 2014
8:30 pm
€7
Since 2005, Maine based wife and husband Folk duo Arborea, Shanti and Buck Curran have released 5 albums, curated two various artist compilations ('Leaves of Life' and 'We Are All One, In the Sun': a tribute to Robbie Basho), and performed throughout the US, UK, and Europe...including sessions on the BBC, NPR, WNYC, and WXPN. Arborea's 4th album 'Red Planet', released in 2011 made Rolling Stone 'Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011'', 'Editors Top Pick' Guitar Player Magazine, and 'Top Vinyl Pick' Mojo Magazine. Arborea's 5th album 'Fortress of the Sun' was released in 2013 on the NYC label ESP-Disk' and made AllMusic's 'Favorite Folk Albums of 2013', Acoustic Guitar Magazine's 'Best Acoustic Albums of 2013', Folk Radio UK Best Albums of 2013, and Echoes 'Best of 2013' Listener Poll. Arborea's last shows in Ireland were at Electric Picnic in 2010 and Body & Soul Summer Solstice in 2011, and our music has gotten airplay on RTE XM2. We're touring in support of the 5th album 'Fortress of the Sun' (ESP-Disk), which made AllMusic Favorite Folk Albums of 2013, Acoustic Guitar Magazine Best Albums of 2013, Folk Radio UK Best Albums of 2013, Echoes Best of 2013 Listener Poll, etc. Our previous album 'Red Planet' mad Rolling Stone Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011, Guitar Player Magazine Editors Top Pick, Uncut Magazine Best Albums of 2011 "Buck and Shanti Curran's fifth LP of spellbinding folk feels both stronger and frailer than 2011's 'Red Planet', the golden production highlighting the fever-storms and dark sadness in these deep, powerful songs." 4 Stars Mojo Magazine This husband-and-wife duo plays a trance-folk that, at every turn in the slipstream, seems to hail from another country: the murder ballads of Appalachia; the plucked-string stasis and Om drone of New York minimalism; the iridescent-Middle East imagination of the Incredible String Band. Singer Shanti and guitarist Buck Curran take Tim Buckley's "Phantasmagoria in Two" at a compelling near-standstill pace; their own "Wolves" is a long circular hush streaked with crying fuzz. Another primary instrument here: the soft oceans of reverb that cushion every minute of this stark and tender balladry. David Fricke, Rolling Stone I discovered Arborea amid a sea of 1,300 songs that I heard in preparation for South by Southwest. The music stood out for its calm beauty, its rough edges, and the duo's ability to speak eloquently of life's precious moments, about the sea, and about wonder. I first heard the duo perform at St. David's Bethel Hall in Austin during this year's South by Southwest music festival. That gorgeous church was the best imaginable place to hear this music, short of a visit to the couple's cabin in the western mountains of Maine. It's always special to hear musicians play to the space they're in. The Currans are not only superb players, and Shanti Curran a lovely singer, but, as this Tiny Desk Concert indicates, they're equally good listeners — always in tune with their surroundings." Bob Boilen, NPR