JIM WHITE & TREY BLAKE - Precious Bane - 2LP - Vinyl [JAN 31]

2LP - Classic Black Vinyl.  

It started in London with a shy fan offering Americana outsider Jim White a gift—an obscure 19th Century novel called Precious Bane. Over the years they kept up a correspondence, with White becoming increasingly intrigued by this shy, impoverished woman who led a fairly desperate hand to mouth existence in the south of England.

That woman is Trey Blake, a neurodivergent artist living in obscurity in Brighton, UK. Growing up with undiagnosed autism, she managed her condition and the resultant inability to function in the mainstream world through various addictions. Along the way she sought to create art (songs, prose & photography) that encompassed both light and dark, drawing on her experiences of brokenness and loss on one hand and transcendent beauty and oneness on the other.

The two have paired up to deliver Precious Bane, a haunting effort that finds them trading songs from across the ocean---her parts being recorded by Joe Watson of Stereolab, whom Trey randomly met in a Brighton coffee shop. Like Jim, Joe was instantly struck by this exotic outsider. The resulting collaboration is an enigmatic sonic journey that transports the listener to a mythic, darkly lyrical soundscape.

Jim White and Joe Watson believe in Trey Blake. Hopefully you will too. She deserves an audience, a high-minded one in fact, one hungry for subtle revelation, one capable of appreciating the beauty of treasures unearthed in ragged, unlikely places; among the weeds, deep in the shadows of being, on the outermost fringes of existence. That’s Trey’s zone. 

Tracklist: 

1. Ghost Song
2. Rushing In Waves 
3. The Long Road Home 
4. One Last Love Song
5. Down To The River We Go
6. His Lady
7. Tumbleweed Time
8. Midnight Blue
9. My Time With The Angels
10. Ballad Of The Gunfighters

TREY BLAKE: vocals, guitar
JIM WHITE: guitar, banjo, keys, marimba, percussion, woodwinds, harmonica, melodica, vocals,
backing vocals
ROBERT EXON: backing vocals, rhythm guitar and guitar arrangements on His Lady, One Last
Love Song, Rushing in Waves
MARLON PATTON: drums & bass
DAVID VAN WYKE: cello
ANDREA DEMARCUS: bowed bass
CLIVE BARNES: guitar
STEVE MAPLES: additional bass
NICOLAS ROMBOUTS: additional bass
ALEX WRIGHT: backing vocals
ENGINEER: JOE WATSON (UK) Jim White (US)
MIX & MASTER: John Keane