DIVINE CIRCLES: Solo Offering From USX String Contortionist Streaming In Full At A.V. Club

Meghan Mulhearn - Photo by Erika Taylor

DIVINE CIRCLES is USX violinist, Meghan Mulhearn’s eclectic solo endeavor. Notorious for pushing the limits of orthodox string-playing in an effort to explore the violin’s potential as an instrument far beyond traditional composition, Mulhearn often employs effects and electronics, novel plucking and strumming techniques and uses the violin as an actual vocal resonator. Her eccentric approach, compared to Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Warren Ellis of Dirty Three/Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and more investigational artists like Aidan Baker and Steve Reich, conjures evocative, visceral and textural elements, often unrecognizable as originating from a violin at all.

On Oblivion Songs, Mulhearn manifests a wholly spellbinding, five-track sound collage; a soothing collection of intimate and experimental songcraft filtered through the Appalachian dusk. Released late last year via UK-based Paradigms Recordings, the offering was recorded at Fahrenheit Studio with Travis Kammeyer (A Storm of Light, USX, Generation of Vipers, This Mountain, Ocoai), mastered by James Plotkin (OLD, Scorn, Khanate, Khlyst), and continues to earn the adoration of fans and critics nationally for its magnetic, folk-laden beauty.

Divine Circles 'Oblivion Songs' Artwork

In commemoration of its release, The Onion’s A.V. Club is streaming the record in its entirety, rightly noting that, “Albums come, albums go, and it’s easy for most of them to get swept up in the pitiless march of pop-culture progress. Which is partly why Oblivions Songs… is so heart-stopping. The album’s five tracks aren’t the stuff of a quick skim; absorbing and subtle, they’re built around Mulhearn’s shadowy violin, entrancing loops, and stately, shimmering voice. From the elegant melancholy of ‘Leave’ to the cosmic-Appalachian folk of ‘Hymn,’ Oblivion Songs evokes an ancient-sounding soulfulness one that provides a stark counterpoint to her far heavier work with her main band, U.S. Christmas.”

Get swept away by Oblivion Songs at THIS LOCATION.

Oblivion Songs is currently available in limited edition vinyl via Paradigms Recordings. Order your copy today HERE.

http://divinecircles.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/DivineCircles
http://www.paradigms-recordings.com

Source: Earsplit PR
Photo Credit: Erika Taylor