James Blackshaw
The Glass Bead Game
[Young God]
Get It at Amazon

James Blackshaw is pretty fucking rad. He's got at least a dozen records out between himself and various collaborators, and his 12-string Guild displays deep connections with a tradition that includes masters like Bert Jansch and John Fahey. Young God honcho Michael Gira obviously heard something he liked, and with previous releases by a then-unknown Devendra Banhart on his label, it seems Blackshaw fulfills a desire to promote more gentle, reflective sounds.

This is a gorgeous recording, stately and more than a little melancholy. Blackshaw's finger-picking technique gets excellent display on "Key," one of five tracks on the album. He's nimble in conjuring rolling figures from his strings, beautifully evoking Ye Olde English Folk Stylings in a non-slavish way. Much of the album, though, is keyed to drifty chamber pieces that deploy piano, violin and cello to create memorable rainy-day music, suitable for wallowing in the utmost unbearable misery – either as a palliative or a final stop before crawling into bed for a week.

Believe me, a week in bed listening to James Blackshaw is not a week wasted. He's as poetic at mapping out those kinds of emotions in music as Chan Marshall. And not being a) a cute girl or b) a vocalist who flashed her pubic hair in The New Yorker, per se, I'd say that's a major accomplishment. Throw it on your tune queue with some Mogwai and Jansch's sweet-ass Black Swan from '07, get a bottle of red and borrow your ex-girlfriend's cat for the afternoon, and whatever troubles your soul will be gone by night's end. Trust me on this people. I know.