U.K. guitar sensation Gwenifer Raymond blends mesmerizing technique with pre-war blues

Rising star hits the BlueShore at CapU on October 1

Post Sponsored by BlueShore at CapU

Based in Brighton, Gwenifer Raymond has been hailed for the staggeringly original sounds she gets out of the acoustic guitar.

WELSH GUITARIST Gwenifer Raymond, who blends traditions and techniques to create staggeringly original music, is set to play a concert here on October 1 at 8 pm, at BlueShore at CapU on the North Shore.

The Brighton-based guitarist’s rich, powerful solo acoustic instrumental music first took flight with her debut album, You Never Were Much Of A Dancer. A 13-song flurry of acoustic guitar and banjo compositions—very much in the vein of the big hitter of American primitive music, John Fahey—the record is a riveting demonstration of her often-blistering playing.

On her second release, Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, Raymond (who in her spare time is a games designer, astrophysics PhD, and punk drummer) has composed music that feels more personal and confident.

Longer pieces unfold in complex forms and "the sound she makes is so cavernous, evocative and frenetic it sounds as though at least two more guitarists are hiding somewhere in the wings,” says The Guardian.

The roots of Raymond’s music lie in the pre-war blues of the American South and Appalachian folk music. As The Guardian notes, “her specific field of solo guitar is known as ‘American primitive.’ John Fahey (1939–2001), the father of the genre, coined the term, and a number of acolytes have since taken up this mesmeric, meditative form, that, with its open tunings and air of mystery, has as much in common with Indian ragas and drone-based music as it does Anglo-US fingerpicking.”

The guitarist’s awe-inspiring technique and intense musicality should make for a transporting evening.

You can find tickets here.

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