A return visit to Cafe OTO for Korean acid folk singer Kim Doo Soo (PSF/Blackest Rainbow) following his fantastic performance here at the Counterflows festival with Steffen Basho-Junghans in 2012.

KIM DOO SOO

"Kim Doo Soo is the deepest and most introspective of Korea's acid folk singers. Many are the legends that cling to his songs -- political oppression, alcoholism, suicide, a ten-year period of mountain seclusion. Despite having been active since the mid-'80s and having released four acclaimed albums in Korea, most Western listeners only became aware of him through his tracks on the recent Damon & Naomi compilation, International Sad Hits. On 10 Days Butterfly, his fifth album, he mines productive veins of profound melancholy, animistic nature, and unfathomable, hermetic affection. The whole is couched in a veil of the most gorgeous, still melodicism, Kim's vocals and guitar shaded with subtle accordion, violin, piano, organ and harmonica. A reflective and unearthly beautiful masterpiece." - Alan Cummings

"The total effect is intimate, and when arrangements are enhanced by electric guitar, organ, cello or trumpet, it's with great delicacy. Vocally I kept thinking of JJ Cale, that low-pitched refusal to speak up, and this is a husky, lived-in voice. At first its quivering seems off and mannered, but eventually its emotional impact is enormous for such a quiet style. Kim Doo Soo has a habit of letting ends of lines fall in a spine-tingling fade. Emotionally we are in the territory of Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door": harmonies are simple and melodies anthemic." - Clive Bell, The WIRE (review of '10 Days Butterfly')

ANGHARAD DAVIES

Angharad Davies is a violinist whose work is situated in the complex intersection of improvised and composed music. She is dedicated to exploring and expanding sound production on the violin, and has developed a specific approach to the violin, which extends the sound possibilities of the instrument by attaching and applying objects to the strings or by sounding unexpected parts of the instrument's body.

Davies is an active performer in contemporary, improvisation and experimental music both as a soloist, within ensembles such as Apartment House and Common Objects, and in smaller improvised groups with musicians such as Axel Dörner, Taku Unami, and Tisha Mukarji.

Her sensitivity to the sonic possibilities of musical situations and attentiveness to their shape and direction make her one of contemporary music's most fascinating figures.

www.angharaddavies.com