Berithen Berio

BERITHEN BERIO is the music of guitarist/singer/songwriter Brad Barr, propelled by the tactile interplay with his brother, drummer Andrew Barr, and harpist Sarah Page. The strange and psychotropic trio formed shortly after the Barr brothers, who had played for years in the avant-rock trio The Slip, moved from their home in the Providence/Boston area to Montreal, where they met Sarah. She was Brad's neighbor, and he would hear her playing her harp through the wall. He started writing for the two instruments, and they began experimenting with overdriving the harp. The trio could as easily be compared to Leonard Cohen as to Ali Farka Tourre, as reminiscent of Joao Gilberto as Bukka White.

The songs and the arrangements of Berithen Berio are singular, universal, heavy and playful, obliging and explosive, sonically curious and lyrically diametric. Though rooted in American folk culture, the music reflects an understanding and reverence for the wider world of folk traditions, namely West Africa.