Hush Arbors

Keith Wood’s songwriting under the Hush Arbors moniker has undergone all manner of transformation and return since he began the project in 2001. That first click of the fourtrack gave eager listeners a glimpse of traditional song forms making their way along well trodden paths beneath a fuzz laden sky. Influential labels like Digitalis, Foxglove, 267 Latajjaa, The Great Pop Supplement, Blackest Rainbow & Three Lobed leapt upon the chance to issue these songs, releasing them as cd’s, cdr’s and vinyl discs of varied size and colour.

TUMBLR  ::  MYSPACE  ::  FACEBOOK  ::  TWITTER  ::  BANDCAMP

These soft and hypnotically picked folk songs appeared between cracks in the heaving storms that cloaked a private and ancient sounding world; bliss and wrath coiled around their fragility. Sometimes they were overwhelmed and sometimes they persisted and survived. A few years down the line the songs gained a grip on the doom in the sky; they were painting its ominous colours into their backdrop and hitching their power to the song plough. Heavy furrows scar the Landscape of Bone cdr (this fans enduring favourite), but the country kicks roll around on oversize tires, “there's whiskey in that bottle, and there’s blood on the floor…”

So who’d have placed a bet in 2001 on Hush Arbors releasing a pair of belting rock records on Ecstatic Peace, touring Europe with the late Jack Rose and the world as a regular member of Current 93 and Voice of the Seven Thunders (not forgetting part time stints in Six Organs of Admittance, Wooden Wand & Sunburned Hand of the Man)… and all before the decade was out? Not the longest odds, but odd nonetheless. Not to mention playing to sold out crowds at ATP or on the bill with Sonic Youth & Dinousaur Jr. J Mascis produced and played on last year's Ecstatic Peace long-player Yankee Reality, but in truth Hush Arbors has never had a strict membership policy, incorporating members of all the bands that Wood has played in as well as a great many more. [David Morris, Hinterground.com]