Sloppy Ground by Eric Chenaux
We have long been champions of the Eric Chenaux’s inimitable talents – as a songwriter, arranger and mind-bending guitarist – and this album should make these talents clear to any listener. This is a collection of beautifully fried love songs, highly original in compositional approach and instrumental texture, and utterly compelling in lyrical content and delivery. As Chenaux says, “the lyrics are more concerned with what love does rather than what it means…the time moving through these tunes is not one of the beginning of love or the end or heartbreak of love (though I love that stuff too) but more often in the middle (the working middle, the in-between)”.
Chenaux has rallied some of Toronto’s finest ‘out’ players for Sloppy Ground, including Nick Fraser on drums, Ryan Driver on amplified melodica and synths, David Prentice on violin, Doug Tielli on 5-string banjo, Martin Arnold on electric tenor banjo, and Aimee Dawn Robinson on electric echo harp. Chenaux’s own guitar work has never been more thrillingly deployed in the context of (relatively) conventional songcraft.
Tracklist
| 1. | Am I Lovely | 5:22 |
| 2. | Love Don't Change | 6:38 |
| 3. | Rest Your Daylights | 6:35 |
| 4. | Have I Lost My Eyes | 5:35 |
| 5. | Arms, Legs and Moonlight | 4:53 |
| 6. | Boon Harp | 5:55 |
| 7. | Old Peculiar | 3:17 |
| 8. | Dreaming of Stars | 4:50 |
| 9. | Sloppy Ground | 4:08 |
Credits
PERSONNEL
Eric Chenaux: electric guitar, 12 string guitarjo, lap steel, nylon string guitar, vocals
Ryan Driver: melodica, synth
Nick Fraser: drums
David Prentice: violin
Aimée Dawn Robinson: electric Echo harp
Doug Tieli: 5-string banjo
Thierry Amar: double bass
Martin Arnold: electric tenor banjo
Recorded by Jeff McMurrich at Hall Music, Toronto, November 2007. Additional recording by Efrim Menuck at Hotel2Tango, Montréal, December 2007. Mixed and mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market, Montréal, December 2007.
Gracious acknowledgment to the Ontario Arts Council for their assistance in making this recording.
License
All rights reserved.
Eric Chenaux is a purveyor of jazz, folk, and pop-inflected avant-garde balladry juxtaposing a warm, clear singing voice and fried, noised, semi-improvised guitar . "A musician like no other." (Tiny Mix Tapes) "A singer possessed of angelic sweetness accompanying himself with visceral guitar, Chenaux succeeds in generating an astonishing array of timbres." (The Wire, Cover Feature, 2017)