Some combinations are so natural that, in retrospect, you have to ask, “What took them so long to get together?” C Joynes of Cambridgeshire, England and Mike Gangloff of Ironto, Va., have labored separately in substantially similar musical fields. Joynes is a guitarist whose work has drawn inspiration from African and American folk traditions, filtered through early-electric-blues amplification preferences. Gangloff has played fiddle and an armful of other stringed instruments in Pelt, Black Twig Pickers, Eight Point Star and Universal Light, traversing an arc that stretches from old-time mountain music to transcendental electric noise.
Since 2023, they’ve worked together as circumstances allow, touring England, the Eastern U.S. and Canada. In 2024, they made a lathe-cut 10-inch of Tom Winter, Tom Spring; this relatively unlimited vinyl reissue adds two live tracks, one recorded on each side of the Atlantic. Gangloff and Joynes make good company, striding in matched steps from rustic folk tunes to free-form improvisation.
The shorter tracks on the first side of Tom Winter, Tom Spring affirm one aspect of compatibility. Both men are practiced solo performers who have dealt with the essentials of getting folks who may or may not know their music up and moving. Together, they lay into rhythms like jockeys whose rent for the month hinges on their horses’ finishing places, and they deliver melodies with rousing flourishes. On “Rapid City,” springy jaw harp and a syncopated bass line join into a sawdust-elevating pattern while Joynes picks a lilting tune over the top. On “Sail Away Ladies,” Gangloff bows broad, jaunty fiddle phrases while the guitarist varies a cantering pace. Others, most notably “The Other Side Of Catawba” and “Two Bishops,” give existential pause, seeming to linger on those moments when the show is done and empty darkness yawns beyond the venue’s open door.
On side two, Joynes and Gangloff make judicious use of tape delay, amplification and room tone to turn the sounds of two boxes with strings pulled across them into maelstrom generators. Tune and tempo never disappear entirely, but they’re swamped by tidal surges of texture and resonance. Both of these guys have navigated these sonic extremes before, but they have found in each other partners who make it possible to connect them in record time. [VHF]
—Bill Meyer
