Nightmare Folk Art, by boycalledcrow

Nightmare Folk Art

by boycalledcrow

supported by

chrisesimpson A marvellous, erratic, creepy mess of looped guitars and I love it! If Penguin Cafe Orchestra had an evil twin, it would be boycalledcrow. Favorite track: Beautiful Woman.

Harsh Agarwal As soon as I heard the album I reached out to the artist to try and program him for a show. Turns out he describes himself as a bedroom musician and not available to do shows. whenever that changes I would be extremely glad to host you for a show.

I could not believe my ears!

Greg Nieuws BoyCalledCrow expertly manipulates acoustic guitar loops and other instruments into surreal, psychedelic rhythmic landscapes at once soothing and haunting. Great Work! Favorite track: Old Blue Bear.

Albi This album is what was missing in my brain, pure distant sound, a melody coming from afar and everything is good and genuine again. Great job! Favorite track: When It Rains.

Matthew Werner - Rieux This is just lovely. Recalls The Books' The Lemon of Pink in the best way.

The Shambotic Listening and Sailing Club thumbnail

more...

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Striking first edition pressing, neon green vinyl, distinctive disco bag sleeve

Includes unlimited streaming of Nightmare Folk Art via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 7 days

edition of 250

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited time offer - 2 superb albums including Magic & Myth by Wonderful Beasts (aka boycalledcrow & xqui) (includes Magic & Myth digital code)

Includes unlimited streaming of Nightmare Folk Art via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Purchasable with gift card

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Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

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Join now to receive all the new music Subexotic Records releases, including this album and 74 back-catalog items, delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android. You’ll also get access to supporter-only exclusives. Learn more.

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Collectable 'Boycalledcrow's Faux Tarot' deck & 12" Vinyl bundle
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
There's fun for all the family with this set of hand crafted "Boycalledcrow's Faux Tarot" divination cards.
Simply shuffle the pack & lay three cards to reveal your fortune in love, money & luck.
Includes this striking first edition pressing in neon green vinyl with a distinctive disco bag sleeve.

Includes unlimited streaming of Nightmare Folk Art via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Old Blue Bear 03:20 video	buy track
2.	Beautiful Woman 03:28	buy track
3.	Be More Kind, Like Frank 03:56	buy track
4.	Acorn 05:04	buy track
5.	Sister Poppy is a Good Girl 04:28	buy track
6.	Mystic Scally 04:40	buy track
7.	So So So, Sad 02:18	buy track
8.	Silly Song 01:52	buy track
9.	When It Rains 03:53	buy track
10.	Emerald Eye 01:52	buy track
11.	Easy Tiger 03:13	buy track
12.	Happy Folk Star 02:45	buy track

about

As heard on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone on BBC6
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mmcn

"Dense, layered compositions like this may take a little time to settle in, but give it room to breathe and you'll discover more to love on each listen than most albums I've been listening to for decades. A beautiful, sprawling monolith."
moonbuilding.bandcamp.com/album/moonbuilding-sprung-2023

"A mind-melter of a record, writes hallucinogenic songs that are harrowing one moment, breathtakingly beautiful the next."
BANDCAMP 'NEW & NOTABLE'

"Since his debut album, 2018s Hyperlight, Knott has grown not only in stature but also in his ability to craft intriguing and genuinely gripping soundscapes."
louderthanwar.com/boycalledcrow-nightmare-folk-art-album-review/

"Let’s use the word incredible to describe what has been produced like a wave of motion hitting you rolling via a rush of memories, thought process, wild sonic treatments and most importantly the emotional substance found in all great, lasting music."
www.magazinesixty.com/boycalledcrow-nightmare-folk-art-subexotic-records/

"..a magic-realism and hallucinated version of outsider art and weird folk music."
monolithcocktail.com/2023/03/20/the-perusal-41-rita-braga-carmen-jaci-frederic-d-oberland-bhajan-bhoy-boycalledcrow/

"..it sounds like mushrooms and damp leafy earth come to life. That's a very good thing in my book."
www.wasistdas.co.uk/review/2023/04/03/review-of-boycalledcrow-nightmare-folk-art/

___________________________________________________

Nightmare Folk Art is the latest album from boycalledcrow.

boycalledcrow is the alias of Chester-based sound artist Carl Knott (Wonderful Beasts, Spacelab). Knott is a former folk musician using his nascent acoustic influences as the basis for his unique and often stirring compositions. “I like weird folk art, and I think the stuff I make is a bit like that,” he explains. “It’s definitely not perfect – it's strange and a reflection of the time and place I live in.”

Each one of the twelve tracks on Nightmare Folk Art finds itself poised on an axis somewhere between the acoustic and electronic, the rhythmic and the ambient, the minimalist and the densely-layered. Opener ‘Old Blue Bear’ sets the tone for the collection, switching breezily between introspective textures and fast-paced euphoria, underpinned by acoustic guitar passages that are skewed so extensively that they become disconnected from their sources. Melodies rise up joyfully, hang around, and then become enveloped in treated sounds of unknowable provenance.

“I hunt down really clean royalty-free acoustic guitar samples,” says Knott. “I like nylon strings and clear, sparkly tones – the brighter, the better. I pick the source material based on how sonically good and warm it sounds as well as the clarity of the notes. It really has nothing to do with the musical phrase.” Knott then manipulates those plundered sounds to create the diverse sounds heard across ‘Nightmare Folk Art’. "My mantra is to destroy, create, then repeat. It’s really liberating, and I love working this way. I play acoustic fingerpicking guitar so I try to play my controller the same way. At the same time, audio is very visual for me: I get a glimpse of an abstract object in my mind's eye and try to get close to that, but I also like the feel of falling into a rabbit hole and not knowing where I might end up.”

That sense of venturing deep into the unknown shines through on this album. Tracks like the chiming, shanty-esque ‘Acorn’ and the fluttering, elusive shapes of 'Mystic Scally’ and ‘Silly Song’ evoke a sense of wonder and awe akin to staring onto a new landscape or cityscape for the first time, leaving a transcendent mark on the listener. These are the sounds to accompany sepia-tinged memories, long-forgotten faces and misremembered places; regrets, reminiscences, hopes and dreams.

“This album was influenced by my family, and walking in the countryside in Staffordshire and Cheshire,” explains Knott of the pastoral, ruminative quality that flows through Nightmare Folk Art. “I genuinely think that there's a spiritual side to this type of creativity. It means I can express deep feelings in a way that I simply couldn’t vocalise.”

A warmth and hopefulness can be found here. ‘Sister Poppy Is A Good Girl’, named after the Knott family dog, carries a beautiful, celebratory sheen while the warped and churning drones of ‘So So So, Sad’ flits between optimistic promise and uncertainty, reflecting the state of mind that Knott was in when assembling the album.

“The title came from a William Gibson book, ‘Virtual Light’,” concludes Knott. “I was reading that at the same time of making the album. It seemed to perfectly sum up what I was creating, despite everything around me feeling a bit off and nightmarish.”

Mat Smith (Electronic Sound)

credits

released March 31, 2023

Music & Production by Carl M Knott
Design & Mastering by Dan Seville (Subexotic)
Back cover glitch images by Adrian Cain

license

about

boycalledcrow Chester, UK

boycalledcrow is the alias of Chester-based sound artist Carl M Knott (Wonderful Beasts, Spacelab). Knott, a former folk musician, uses his myriad acoustic influences to create unique, strange and beautiful compositions.

discography

//M E L O D Y_M A N

Oct 2024
Nightmare Folk Art

Mar 2023
Wizard's Castle

May 2022
Dead Dimension

Nov 2021
Knell

Jul 2021
Bottletown

May 2021
Kaleidomission

Nov 2020
Mystic Scally

Aug 2020
The Art Of Whisper

Mar 2020
Heavy Gaze

Feb 2020
Emerald

May 2019
Hyperlight

Sep 2018

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