Shrimper Rec.
Amps for Christ and two ambiguous figures : The Beggars Garden (US,1997)***°
One symbol for 'Amps for Christ' that often returns is an oak tree with flashing flowering flowers, as a fundamental tree of life, a metaphor for an ever renewing start. Here, at "The Beggars Garden", with Eve gazing at this sea, with "Immanuel" (-symbolized as, or with his name on a boat-) drifting off. Another symbol is the flying acoustic guitar, another fundament for the Amps for Christ. And we can always find back the same kind of pictures of odd electronic equipment like here on the back some oscillators, showing the experimental side of the group.
The deeper-lying symbolism behind the group's approach towards folk with electronica I think is even better expressed in the front picture of "The Oak in the Ashes". This particular picture refers to some odd semi-pre-biblical story about the development of mankind with machines, and the destruction of earth, and about the resurrection of an oak tree out of the ashes. Then a UFO (-it looks like an UFO on the cover, but actually is a guitar seen from the back-), with the 'Amps for Christ', who liked the (renewed) planet, moved in with their people, with Adam, the first man, as a reference. On the back we see again weird electronic devices in a box.
At "The Beggar's Garden" we hear basically folk sounds, changed into an odd, somewhat funny experimental shape, as if all ideas are in the twilight zone of folk inspiration, and deriving from a curiosity play with small electronic devises, even acoustically. This gives this music something unusual exotic.
The liner notes describe it as "folkcore and musical noise", but it's much more than that. The last couple of tracks are a collection of such combination, but throughout the CD it works mostly as an evolving exploration, a travel through various kinds of experiments. Although we can really speak of a 'folk' inspiration, it is because of the odd attitude against it, that I can say, for the first couple of tracks, I've never heard 'folk' performed in such a weird and funny way before. A few other instrumental inspirations following are like Pink Floyd on dope instead of on LSD. All tracks are kind of like miniatures of inspiration, sometimes in a kind of actually-I-prefer-to-play-something-else-playing or a when-I'm thinking-of-something-entirely-different-at-the-same-time-it-seems-to make-my-performance-funny. A bit further, there are also a few multilayered blues chords and songs, which have something funny again, because the recorded layers are never entirely fitting completely exactly, with some notes and tunes always coming in a little late.
Then we have "The Lamb of God", which sounds like a stoned lullaby while neighbours are having a party. "Laverne Dream" is one of the only tracks with percussion. Also here we hear the same kind of musical "incorrectness", which I think is original, at least here; there are plenty of other enjoyable elements that makes this acceptable on the whole. The enjoyable elements can be the recognisable folk like tunes, or moody sounds, like we for instance have psych sitars, -there's a wonderful 8 minute folk psych improvisation, "Egg mountain" over the second half of the CD- or any other attractive noises.
For almost 71 minutes the CD sound continues on being attractive. Then we also have some improvisations and inspiration in Middle Eastern tuning, here without the usual unusual weirdness, but in a psych mode. But also there is an oddly mix track that brings an additional rhythmic layer on top. After that, the "Electron Wind" tracks and many others could also be called "prepared folk music".
All following, concluding tracks are other combinations of all elements I already mentioned before. These are mostly very short improvisations, with some distorted guitar solos mixed with acoustic improvisations, a bit experimental electric guitar and electric sound improvisations. When these last couple of tracks would have been more like an extra piece, I would also see more clearly the inner content, (more spiritual or esoteric vision), as the expression and creation of a new blending world (-the old world was dominated by addiction on machines-). It still sounds fine of course.
The underlying symbolism being described on "The Beggar's Garden" still is a simple idealism of renewal. But if you compare it to the story of "the Oak of Ashes" I find it more appealing, for this CD, the oak tree has its recognisable roots (in folk, blues, middle east, experimental mould), it has branches of natural sounds, but like on (the cover of) "the Oak of Ashes", also has illuminating otherworldly effects. Any nature's celebration day looks very different now, for its human touches, with the help of machinery or electronics. In this new world nature as well as machinery receives a different daylight ; this new world now is blended on this inspired occasion.
