Last year the label released "Last Wisps of the Old Ways", a brilliantly revealing set of decaying folk music sourced from deep in the North Carolina mountains. Recorded between 1939 and 2020, it highlighted the enduring power of songs that still form the backbone of American country music. Companion set "Ever Since We've Known It" picks up where its predecessor left off, mostly focusing on recordings of Mrs. Lena Bare Turbyfill, whose dozens of 1939 recordings were rescued from a shelf in the Library of Congress by Piotr.
Mostly just vocals, with occasional spare accompaniment from a squeezebox or dulcimer, the texture comes from the recording process, adding a layer of grit that'd put Burial to shame. Voices are saturated into Basinski-esque crumbled tones, and there's rarely silence between the words, just reflecting pools of hissing white noise. A time capsule, seriously.
