Dearly Beloved by Theo Angell

Like his larger body of work in both music and the visual arts, Theo Angell’s second full-length is a religious testimonial of sorts. The songs on 'Dearly Beloved' channel the living and the dead, recalling those present and absent. Theo’s outsider-folk celebrates “the power of him” and one’s ability to travel “from ashes to diamonds” and back again.

Written and recorded in Portland, at the Rare Book Room (Brooklyn, NY) and Sumsilobatem Studios, Degenfeld, Germany, Dearly Beloved references a more diverse array of sounds: the dark folk of Michael Gira’s Angels of Light; the surreal and gothic lyrical inventions of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds; and Syd Barrett’s more ambling work, where lyrical and musical lines veer and coast along without a clear destination. It is an unsettlingly strange ride, with Theo’s banjo and guitar playing pushing in primitive and playful directions and his percussion-work, especially the baroque and hypnotic chants of “Price of Prince,“ providing textured and nuanced relief.

Theo was raised in a rural and isolated stretch of Oregon, in a devoutly religious family, where siblings often played music together and, in their isolation, had to create unusual forms of entertainment. In these days where collectives and hippy communes are often referenced (though rarely substantiated) in the mainstream music press, Theo’s “new weird” upbringing was the real deal; but Dearly Beloved sounds more intimate and personal than postured rag-tag eclectic. For the cover of this release, Theo has chosen to memorialize his family’s favorite parakeet, Sassy, claiming the bird kept the Angells entertained with songs and vocal parley. This record invokes Sassy’s spirit, a disembodied voice channeling through a distant line.

Theo Angell's densely hermetic iconography reflects an artist well-versed in mythology and the "other". And Theo's singing voice is unquestionably one of the most expressive and expansive in outsider folk today. Theo grew up in rural Oregon, was home-schooled along with his siblings by his minister father, which provided him little exposure to mainstream pop culture. (ForcedExposure)

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