grain |cs074

[...] Neil Davidson, who plays a favorite instrument of mine, the acoustic guitar. It wasn't until the third piece before I this out, as the first two were rather drone related pieces of playing whatever sound through the body of the guitar and picking them up before throwing it around. Or perhaps the playing of ventilators against the strings to create a wealth of overtones. In 'Across' both this as well as rudimentary improvised playing exist. Quite a loud beast. Frans de Waard (Vital)

Davidson belongs to the small phalanx of explorers of the acoustic guitar's resonant power. Except for a more improvisational track, "Grain" is for its large part made of staticity - but one that's full of rust and corrosiveness, even if the effect of these sounds often causes Alvin Lucieresque bendings of the auricular membrane. Fermented harmonics are born from a continuous oscillations of the strings, which the guitarist obtains most probably through an eBow or other mechanical devices. Some of the rugged vibrations elicited by Davidson have a refreshingly intoxicating quality that gains an immediate grip on the skull, as if a progressively stronger clutch established a dominance by canceling any extraneous observation in order to introduce a pleasurable pain within the surrounding mass of hypnotic recurrences. We can also perceive the genuineness of the wood, which throbs sympathetically with the rest, contributing to the whole sonority with disguised shades that will be mostly appreciated by those who are more familiar with cuddling the same instrument (the pulse coming out of an acoustic guitar pressed against the chest is indeed akin to an erotic experience). In its spartan constitution, "Grain" offers several intense moments in about 41 minutes of seriously focused experimentation. Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)

If Phill Niblock's ever up in Glasgow and stuck for a guitarist to perform Guitar Too, For Four he could always give Neil Davidson a call, because there's some serious eBow droning going on here, and very pleasant it is too, if that's your cup of tea (i.e. if your collection already includes several Ambarchis, Lichts and Torals). It's not all stasis though – not that the drones Davidson lays down on tracks like "Incidence" and "Across" are ever really static: there's a lot happening on the micro-level if you take the time to listen carefully – on "Cast" his playing is as fragile and spiky as Tetuzi Akiyama. That said, the attention sometimes wanders, if you let it. Maybe that's part of the plan.. For myself, I have a slight preference for Davidson's earlier duo outing Flapjack on FMR with Raymond MacDonald. But judge for yourself. Dan Warburton (Paris Transatlantic)

Instrumentem, którym posluguje sie Davidson jest gitara akustyczna. Jej rezonujace struny, których drgania wymusza za pomoca elektronicznego smyczka, nieustannie szemrza i brzecza, zapelniajac przestrzen wolno wybrzmiewajacymi tonami. W niektórych momentach wibracjom strun towarzysza basy rezonujacego drewna, odrobine urozmaicajace jezyk sonorystyczny, którym Davidson sie posluguje. Muzyka powstaje niespiesznie i - za wyjatkiem "Cast", w którym dominuje ascetyczna improwizacja w duchu Tetuzi Akiyamy - dzieje sie wewnatrz niezbyt szerokiego spektrum dzwieków, jednak te swoiste ograniczenia z nawiazka rekompensowane sa przez jej szorstkosc i intensywnosc. Zawiesiste drony swa kostropatoscia rania glosniki, statyczne na pozór dzwieki oscyluja miedzy mrocznym quasiambientowego tlem, a metalicznym seminoise'owym atakiem, zachwycajac swym ulomnym pieknem. Tadeusz Kosiek (Gaz-Eta)

This is the second solo guitar cd in a row released by Creative Sources, and it really hasn't much in common with Irazoki's "Olatuetan", except for the sparse chord plucking of the third track, "Cast", which could betray a common passion for Derek Bailey. The rest is a minimal drone affair, an quite a loud one at that. Young Glasgow-based improviser Davidson probably uses e-bows or motors to play his instrument of choice, exploiting its resonance box to create these semi-static pieces which seem to spring directly from an unbearable tension of metal, wood and air. Dan Warburton has mentioned Phill Niblock and Oren Ambarchi as possible references; I would add David Maranha's equally impenetrable "Piano suspenso" to the list, and heartily recommend this cd to fans of heavyweight static sounds. Eugenio Maggi (Chain DLK) 

Time was that Portugal was England's oldest ally, but there's a developing relationship between some of Glasgow's most distinctive improvisers and the Trem Azul axis in Lisbon. Davidson's techniques and treatments mean that, but for some busted-zither jangles here and there, it's difficult to tell that acoustic guitar was the instrument involved. Instead, huge, jangling clusters, near-subliminal overtones, and on the closing 'Escarpment', a hint of bagpipe tonalities. That and the opening 'Marked' contain the meat of the set. The earlier piece moves to exhausted stasis and then recovers its momentum. Davidson is an extraordinary talent; pity there's no one at home bold enough to put out stuff like this. Brian Morton (Wire)

Textural snapshots exploring the peripheral tone colour and behaviour of strings died through resonators and variously excited, presented in extended canvases of minimal if scientific-microscopic design with a greater emphasis on quality than gesture. Pedro Lopez (Modisti)