Fern Knight is guitarist/cellist and singer, Margie Wienk; OASTEM! Jim on guit and sundries; Jesse Sparhawk, harp and bass; James Wolf, violin.
Influences
King Crimson (first four records), Pink Floyd, Caravan, Chris Thompson, Steve Ashley, Sourdeline, Brigitte Fontaine, Fresh Maggots, Midwinter, Trees, Magic Carpet, Linda Perhacs, Vashti Bunyan, Donovan, Nico, Dylan, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt, Comus, Fairport, Yatha Sidra, Robert Wyatt, Marc Bolan-T Rex, Captain Beefheart, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Roger Rodier, Sam Gopal, The Pretty Things, Mellow Candle, Algarnas Tragard, Kansas, Can, Alice Coltrane, Moondog, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Tull, Hawkwind, orig Wicker Man soundtrack, orig Valerie soundtrack
early music, baroque, renaissance, Hildegard von Bingen, Arvo Part
Make a Rising, Orion Rigel Dommisse, Alec K. Redfearn, The Owl Service, Ex Reverie, Greg Weeks, Arborea, Silver Summit, Vetiver, PG Six, Rusalnaia, Fursaxa, In Gowan Ring/Birch Book, Plants, Jonathan Wilson
Night of the Hunter, In the Dust of the Stars, Children of Men, The White People, medieval castle ruins, ocean cliffs, cloven hooves, The Master and Margarita, His Dark Materials trilogy the apocalypse, lambs
Fern Knight is the eponymous third full-length release from this fixture on North Philadelphia's internationally renowned musical community. As the primary cover for Margaret Wienk's singing and songwriting, this record fully unleashes her style of melding acoustic and electronic sounds, her careful orchestration alongside the improvisational strengths of the quartet, well-placed strings and crystalline vocals. Displaying her classical roots and psychedelic leanings, Fern Knight will be released into the world by the VHF label on May 5, 2008.
The new recording highlights the sonic cohesion of the quartet, featuring longtime member Jesse Sparhawk on harp and electric bass, Jim Ayre on Flying V and drums/percussion and noted Sun Ra scholar James Wolf on violin. The album was skillfully captured on 24-track analog tape by Greg Weeks at Hexham Head and mixed by Brian McTear at Miner Street Recordings. The calm surface of harp, cello and violin are juxtaposed against the perfectly timed distorted squalls of a Flying V with the grounding blanket of electric bass underneath. All throughout is a dark undercurrent of lyrical and vocal mystery. The overall effect is a lush and pastoral ode to all things living, a running theme that winds through the lyrics: "All is lost / and all will run / over graying ground / to the rays of the sun," sings Wienk in the album's closing track "Magpie Suite: Part III." The spirit conveyed on Fern Knight (vhf 110) is that of a beautiful green age in an apocalyptic landscape about to be laid to dust and its struggle to escape this end.
Fern Knight
S/T
Release date: May 5, 2008
VHF Records 110
www.vhfrecords.com
recorded by Greg Weeks at Hexham Head
mixed by Brian McTear at Miner Street
produced by Margaret Wienk
The Players:
Margaret Wienk - guitars, cello, double bass, vocals, sundries
Jim Ayre - electric guitar, drums, percussion
Jesse Sparhawk - harp, electric bass
James Wolf - violin
Guests:
Greg Weeks, Gillian Chadwick and Orion Rigel Dommisse
Track listing:
Bemused
Silver Fox
Sundew
Loch Na Fooey
Hawk Mountain
Synge's Chair
Magpie Suite: Prelude
Part II
Part III
Review by Richie Unterberger for All Music Guide:
Fern Knight's third album will on many levels appeal to fans of the early 21st century variations of acid folk music. It has some of the same characteristics: gentle female vocals, a tentative delicacy, and an audible debt to British folk and folk-rock of the late '60s and early '70s (although singer/songwriter/cellist Margie Wienk is American). There are some differences, or at least unusual shadings, that set them off from the pack. There's a pronounced chamber music feel to much of the instrumentation, particularly with the liberal use of cello and violin drones, as well as harp accents. Often it's darker and tougher, however, than some other artists who follow similar lines. There's a sinister grit to the playing, and melodies that belie but do not undercut the sweetness of Wienk's vocals, and while the arrangements don't have anything like a classic bass-drums rock rhythm section, there are some occasional blasts of ferocious electric guitar. The overall impact treads the border between the haunting and the truly spooky, though some of the material, especially "Synge's Chair," sounds like it could almost be traditional in origin. If the influence of vintage British acid folk is audible, it must be said that it is in the strength of the songs and the clarity of the production; this is more impressive than many obscure relics of much earlier vintage in the same style that are championed by some collectors.
Partial Discography:
2008: Silver Summit, Water's Edge , CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Ex Reverie, The Door Into Summer , CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2008: Ilya Monosov, 7 Lucky Plays, Or How to Fix Songs for a Broken Heart , CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Ptolemaic Terrascope Magazine, Issue 36, included CD features the song "Hawk Mountain"
2007: The Valerie Project, self titled , CD/LP, Drag City (Chicago, IL )
2007: Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Ask Forgiveness , CDep/12"ep, Drag City (Chicago, IL)
2007: Damon & Naomi, Within These Walls , CD/LP, 20/20/20 (Boston, MA)
2007: Orion Rigel Dommisse, What I Want From You Is Sweet, CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Mountain Home, self titled, CD, Language of Stone (Philadelphia, PA)
2007: Alec K. Redfearn and the Eyesores, The Blind Spot , CD, Cuneiform Records (Silver Spring, MD)
2006: Fern Knight, Music for Witches and Alchemists, Full-length CD, VHF Records (Fairfax Station, VA)
2003: Fern Knight, Seven Years of Severed Limbs, full-length CD, Normal Records (Germany)
2003: Espers, self-titled, full-length CD, Locust Music (Chicago, IL)
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Tshirts still available! Go to: www.fernknight.com/merch/cfm
Music for Witches and Alchemists on vinyl on Eclipse Records is out! Send us a message to order your copy using Paypal. Hand-printed sleeves by Neil Burke of Monoroid.
Electric Mystical Soul Vibration (UK), The People (SWE), Ginger (CH), Jenda Wight (USA), Jarvis Jay (AUS), Fuzz Manta (DK), Mother And Sun (SWE), Psychoine (ES), The Magnificent Brotherhood (DE), Crystal Caravan (SWE), Living Room (DE), The Flying Eyes (USA), Black Box Massacre (DE), Serpentina Satelite (PER), Aqua Nebula Oscillator (FR), Space Debris (DE), Fantasyy Factoryy (DE), Zaphire Oktaloque (DE)
A.K.A.C.O.D.: Happiness Juan Prophet Organization: Birthday Dirge Demonika and the Darklings: Prisoner Fern Knight: Magpie Suite, Part II Parker & Lily: June Gloom Christian Williams: Out of Line Curtis Eller's American Circus: The Curse of Cain Bill Campbell & the Bitter Suite: Stay Princeton: Leonard Woolf The Other Flesh: Waltzing Down the Road to Hell Jo Gabriel: Cellophane Sterilize Stereo: Hannibal's Lecture Desar: Clubg Monbijou Diamanda Galas: See That My Grave is Kept Clean Vermillion Lies: She Comes The Orchards: The Stars' Advice Mohlavyr: Whatever Cassandra Speaks: All Lovers are Gamblers Golem: Czardas
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The Magnificent Seven: A Season in Hell The Bag'n'Pipe Hoppers: 7.15.05 Vol 1 Movement 3 Mohlavyr: Mr Grey Life Toward Twilight: The Monster Alice Cooper: Crazy Little Child Vermillion Lies: Circus Apocalypse Festival: Fair & True Nouvelle Vague: Sorry for Laughing Christian Williams: 30 Minutes Foetus: Cirrhosis of the Heart Kim Vermillion: Hurts Like Hell Paul Mercer: L'e toile de Mer Desar: Another Stitch Princeton: Eminent Victorians Palodine: Devour Me Sixteen Horsepower: Silver Saddle (live) Fern Knight: Hawkmoon Sterilize Stereo: Hannibal's Hands Demonika and the Darklings: Everday is Halloween Belle & Sebastian: Is It Wicked not to Care? Jo Gabriel: Firefly The Other Flesh: (Bring Down the) Summer Rain Juan Prophet Organization: Disappointment/Reflection
Gino Fanelli's Red Hot Sugar Daddies: St James Infirmary Big Daddy: Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite Unwoman: Blight The Bad Things: The Breaking Walter Sickert & THe ARmy of BRoken TOys: Crystal Ship Juan Prophet Organization: 10-4 The Other Flesh: (Bring Down the) Summer Rain Demonika and the Darklings: Choir of Change Desar: The Girl with the Half Moon Eyes Fern Knight: Silver Fox Rohan Theatre Band: Nobody Buried the Undertaker Princeton: The Waves Sixteen Horsepower: Harm's Way (live) Vera Beren's Gothic Chamber Blues Ensemble: The Nod Paul Mercer: Ballet Mecanique Curtis Eller's American Circus: Daisy Josephine Sterilize Stereo: Jack's Dagger Sxip Shirey: Dirge Jo Gabriel: Bulldozer Mohlavyr: Mr Grey Sire: She's Like Superman Kim Vermillion: Organ Donor's March Reverend Glasseye: Mother is a Carpegian
Kim Vermillion: Hurts Like Hell Make a Rising: Woodsong Part Two Jo Gabriel: God Grant She Lye Still Princeton: Eminent Victorians Desar: Club Monbijou Sterilize Stereo: Give It a Rest Festival: Return Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper: This Land is Your Land Ascension of The Watchers: Moonshine The Other Flesh: (Bring Down the) Summer Rain Fields Of The Nephilim: Harmonica Man Demonika and the Darklings: New Year's Rain Fern Knight: Synge's Choir Scarlet Room: The Machine Paul Mercer: The Hidden Key Slim Cessna's Auto Club: An Introduction to the Power of Faith: Braces Christian Williams: The Trail Juan Prophet Organization: Factory The Flaming Stars: Eat Your Heart Out DeVotchKa: El Zopilote Mojado Curtis Eller's American Circus: Sugar for the Horses The Filthy Whores: Bite the Red Rose Boomtown Rats: I Don't Like Mondays Fire on Fire: Amnesia Thunder in the Valley: Three Fishermen
The dark side of the wah.
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