Herbcraft

"Fans of Jewelled Antler's spookier rambles should be into it -- droning, looping psych-folk. [...] Wasp Stings is especially atmospheric and expanded, and you can't always make-out the pretty weirdness of his almost [Daniel] Johnston-like voice, so for a bigger taste of Cursillistas's variety, take a listen to "Shallows" while you're at MySpace along with the noisier "Send Your Sea," from a TBA forthcoming release. "Tennessee" as well. Very much into this guy's stuff." - Stereogum

"Gentle percussion, light tappings, and breathy chanting effectively give the music a sense of removal, perhaps to a dream world or behind a hidden portal to some other elf-ruled dimension. [...] Taken as a whole, fans of neo-psych and the new backwoods DIY scene will find plenty of branch-breaking and howling wind on Wasp Stings" - Tiny Mix Tapes

"A collection of spectacularly warped drone-folk ballads from Portlander Matthew Lajoie, this first widely available example of Cursillistas' output is a magnificent sprawl of odd, cavernous percussion interludes, thick vocal nebulae and haunted forest folk guitar plucks. Absolutely gorgeous stuff."
- Boomkat

"Beginning with a brief yet intense drone, Cursillistas create their own universe, their music invoking dew-soaked meadows, the creaking of ancient pines and the scent of sea spray curling through an evening mist. Both spectral and firmly within the now, the sounds capture your imagination, breaking free of their confines to roam within your mind, visceral and engulfing."
- Terrascope

"Eerie vibes twist between cave mouth alchemy and field recording ambience, creeping at the edges of darkness. While there's a true element of folk at the roots, Lajoie imbues his songs with dense textures of subtle clatter; woven into lonesome night odes that creep through the ridges in your spine." - Raven Sings The Blues

"The two tracks offered up here sound very much like a continuation of the unique sound captured earlier: echoey vocals with softly strummed guitars sing beautifully windswept songs with vague lyrics and harmonies, like snatches of the most perfect folk songs drifting in and out of hearing range on a long walk through rolling hills and dipping valleys. The A side, “Taste Teeth”, has a much stronger hook and only a slight introduction and undercurrent of distorted guitars and wind chimes swept together to create a broiling undercurrent for an otherwise elegiac song. The B side, “You Float, No Evens”, is a much looser affair, with indistinct layers of voices floating in and out of focus through a seasick chant. Don’t worry, it’s not enough to make you feel queasy, but the sense of unease such studied imperfection creates is masterful.

Cursillistas create a unique sound that is to be cherished, and this is a perfect introduction to Matt’s highly individual voice that serves as an excellent opener for an extremely high quality subscription series. It also works well as a primer for his newest full-length, “Wasp Stings The Last Bitter Flavor”, just out on Digitalis Recordings. - Diskant

"Herbcraft was on the bill at the Taterbug + Tracey Trance show at King Street Mansion last week. I hadn't heard of the project before, and for good reason - it was literally his first show playing out Herbcraft songs live for people.

The project is a solo venture (with a friend's help live) for Matt from Cursillistas. He's from Portland (Maine) and traveled down for the show since he loves Western Mass so much ("Northampton/Amherst is definitely one of my favorite spots in the world that I've seen in my short life"). I caught him play with Cursillistas in the same living room within the past year and I enjoyed the set, but Herbcraft was something a bit different.

Smoldering guitars played back from his looping pedal as he shredded over them, slowly burrowing into stoned ears and Narragansett minds. And I do mean stoned - stoned enough to warrant Charles Taterbug himself to refer to Herbcraft as "such stoners," which is saying something seeing as he was showing off a tattoo on his arm that reads "so what I'm far out."

Currently, Matt only has a few Sa tapes dubbed (J-card directly above), but the Herbcraft Discovers The Bitter Water Of Agartha LP drops at the end of May on Hello Sunshine Records. The Sa tape (measly $3) contains a few tracks from that record plus outtakes on the b-side. Matt said the album was the product of a Cursillistas hiatus and his long-time love for "the kind of music that I spend most of my time listening to: the late-60s early-70s Bay Area freak bands, obscure private press psych-rock records, krautrock, classic rock, etc."

Check out the first download from the LP below, "Road to Agartha," stream another from his Soundcloud page and keep an eye and an ear out for the record dropping within the next couple months on Hello Sunshine."
- Friendship Bracelet