Moonwood

The three acts that night all shared similar elements of sound but took those elements to radically different places. Lorde Awesome deployed buzzing analog synthesizers and white hot sparks of guitar noise, propelled buy insistent, hypnotic drumming. Black Walls was a one-man show of minor key finger playing, David Gilmour-ish slide-playing and washed out, spacey vocals. The highlight was closing act Moonwood, a two-piece comprised of guitars, floor-shaking percussion loops and bewitching female vocals. At the end of the night these three styles collided, as every musician in the house got on stage for an extended closing jam. - Axis of Metal

I first encountered Moonwood last year, reviewing the River Ghost LP. That LP’s progressions from expansive sketches to dense song structures — built prominently around guitar and gourd flute. Jakob Rehlinger follows up River Ghost this year with a new CD, The Strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the Strength of the Wolf is the Pack on his Arachnidiscs imprint.
The overriding mood of The Strength of the Pack is the Wolf… is similar to that of River Ghost. However, Rehlinger employs more instruments and more structured, diverse songs to deliver his vision. While the disc might be most striking in its sparse, shimmering moments, some of the new, funkier elements provide a unique contrast.
I recently caught up with Jakob via email, after being captured by the new tracks. Jakob is currently busy with several current and forthcoming Arachnidisc tapes, as well as two new albums by his other project, BABEL.

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How do you use improvisation with the layered elements in your recordings? Are there certain elements that you prefer over others to begin your improvisation?

The recordings almost always begin with the idea that I’m going to record a solo guitar improvisation with either no accompaniment or some minimal background textures. I have this erroneous notion each album is going to be somewhere between Robbie Basho and Pelt and somehow it completely gets away from me.
I’ll either begin by laying down a drone with an analogue synth or a bowed guitar and then improvise over top of that, or I’ll simply improvise a guitar line to a click track. Usually a collection of riffs based on some new scale I’ve discovered while randomly noodling....

(See link for full interview.) - Foxy Digitalis

Borne on the fever dreams of aquatic explorers, Moonwood journey fringeward through the fourth underworld. Their mesmerizing pursuit of exotic minimalism is peppered with gourd flutes, lap harps and ekatantari to give their forlorn excursions final entry within nature’s infinite drone. Music for water borne disease, indeed. Clear-blue vinyl for the pure of grip. - Weird Canada

Moonwood strike an improvisational chord, and yet there is a deep level of intention pulsing here… The circuitous guitar style and eastern scales define much of how the rest of the music sounds, but what that might be changes from track to track. The playful early dawn of gamelan percussion, gongs, and hallowed vocal harmonies on “Invite Me To Stare Into The Darkness” is followed immediately a Cambodian psych jam in “Grafitti Blossoms”. The album jumps around quite a bit, and while a consistent theme of ritual and psychedelic encouragement is achieved, the strength of the record lies in the second half. It is as if the experimentalist menagerie of the first half were a warm up for the final charge into darkness unknown.

“It Takes A Child To Raze A Village” begins this journey with some bayou-styled guitar bendings reminiscent of Jack Rose and Evan Caminiti at the same time. From here a steady pace is established, the acoustic engine sparkling with additions of eastern violins, (perhaps) ekatantari, and opium-soaked tambourine. It’s a soundtrack worthy of your journey across a forlorn landscape or the River Styx, except with eyes still full of wonder and optimism ….

“Where The Flowers Blossom Red”, a monster psych folk track that begins somewhat unassumingly before launching into a vivid arrangement with the filters your mind puts up to keep you from the edge. This is the snake dance, and Moonwood is poised to coax your soul’s release in a Grails-esque bacchanalian purge…. This is a sultan’s nocturnal feast for the ears. - A Closer Listen

Arachnidiscs Recordings presented their first vinyl offering this year, and the Ontario cassette/CDR label provided one of the best growers this year. After first listen to River Ghosts, one of several Moonwood releases this year, I was unmoved by the alternately swelling and droning guitar and gourd flute; at the very least, I didn’t know what to make of it.
Following up on this record, the subtle layers and shimmering dynamics between the sparse folk elements might not be apparent on a first, glancing listen. Jakob Rehlinger, mastermind behind Moonwood, provides a stunning experimental guitar approach, a surprisingly “organic” electric guitar sound. The buzzing drones and scorched swells sound like they are produced by a cranked, clean amplifier, and the chiming reverb and tremolo naturally follow the signal’s original dynamic.
Picture side A as a set of six shorter sketches, leading to side B, which features more prominent, dense song structures. The six cuts on side A frequently alternate between oscillating gourd flute and ringing, deceptively simple guitar lines. Alternate instrumentation and percussion enter the background from time to time, building the intensity and providing phantom noises: choirs, gurus, spiritual awakenings. I cannot emphasize enough the sparse composition of the elements throughout this side, rendering each set of simultaneous percussion, flute, and guitar swells more intense for each occurrence.
Compared to the first side, flipping the translucent blue wax reveals densely packed compositions. Previous buzzing or swelling overtones are developed into full-fledged drones, rapid fluctuations between flute and guitar, building to intense rhythmic sequences. After the first two cuts, things decay during “Panda Bite Fever Dream” and “Blood Red Riverbanks,” offering sequences that call to mind chiming bells over moving bass and a progression of heavily phased/filtered guitar. The final, modulated swells are delivered over rapid instrumentation, with Rehlinger offering an active close to answer the album’s bare opening.
Over multiple listens, themes of deserted landscapes, rituals, and awakening vibe through the overtones and drones. Moonwood’s experimental folk might not grab you at first listen, but the textured sounds definitely reward multiple listens. - Foxy Digitalis

Also the work of one man, this time Jakob Rehlinger, “River Ghosts” is a wholly enchanting album recorded under the name of Moonwood. Featuring such instruments as Bamboo Flute, Gongs, Ekatantri and percussion, along side the more obvious Guitar and bass, there is an eastern feel to the ten tracks on show here, something that is highlighted by a rich warm production. After a brief opening track, that sets the scene, The album gets into its stride with the quite magnificent “Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society”, a gorgeous slow moving piece, filled with drone and percussion, over which a Gourd Flute blows ever so sweetly, all you have to do is close your eyes. With tinkling bells and jangling percussion, “Bamboo Whiskey” is another brief aural delight, whilst “Drawing Water From a Poisoned Well” utilises a bowed guitar in its quest for sonic perfection, the piece containing some hypnotic guitar work. On side two the wonder continues, with for more long tracks in the same style, with the excellent “cholera in the Time of Love” being the pick of the bunch for me, whilst side closer “Blood Red Riverbanks” gets the silver medal for its epic grandeur. Taken as a whole, this is a sprawling and sumptuous treat that will carry you away to distant lands. (http://arachnidiscs.wordpress.com/) - Terrascope