Stella Kola [LP]

Stella Kola - Stella Kola [LP]

Originally self-released in 2023, Stella Kola, the debut album from Beverly Ketch (Jow Jow, Weeping Bong Band) and Robert Thomas (Sunburned Hand of the Man, Dalthom), now returns in a renewed edition -- bringing wider attention to a record that already felt like a quietly essential artifact from the moment it first appeared. Given the pair's respective roots -- and the presence of collaborators drawn from across the Northeast experimental underground -- one might expect "a brutal blast of acid swirl." Instead, what emerges is something far more unexpected. The album is "steeped, not in noise and dissonance, but in the fragrant, captivating folk of Linda Perhacs, Judee Sill, Karen Dalton, and Bridget St John." From the opening moments the record reveals its core sensibility: "a ballad that digs deep into the psychedelic-folk tradition until it takes root in a freshly sporous permaculture." What follows is a set of songs that feel both carefully assembled and organically grown -- delicate structures held together by a wide circle of contributing musicians, including Wednesday Knudsen (flute), P.G. Six (harp, guitars, keys), Gary War (synth), Jen Gellineau (viola, violin), Willie Lane, L. Gray, and others. Rather than functioning as studio additions, these collaborators form a genui(more...)

A1. Rosa
A2. First Fret
A3. Epiphany
A4. Set Out Too Soon
A5. Free Afternoon
A6. November
A7. Summer Night
B1. The Air We Breathe
B2. Tarot Song
B3. Heart in the Rain
B4. Fair Youth & Dark Lady
B5. Wednesday
B6. Being Is A Beggar's Blessing
B7. Live Your Lie