Conservationism

Ever since I bought the Ipod I’ve been rediscovering music. For the longest of time I stuck to the known entities. The radio wasn’t any help, except the rare NPR interview. I stumbled on Joe Henry in that manner. But the internet is a great tool for finding music and I’ve found sites such as Metacritic helpful.

So Friday I downloaded 2 new works, the new Iron & Wine EP, Woman King, and M. Ward’s new LP Transistor Radio. Both are in the LoFi, primitive modernist, tradition, but of a kind that uses some graceful and unassuming embellishment to accentuate the elemental. Ward’s music sounds peculiarly antiquated, yet not in the same manner as an early Gillian Welch. Ward’s music does not attempt to replicate a tradition as much as grow anew from one.

There’s a lot to learn from such practice, even in the poetry world. Tradition is sustenance as well as origin, but a true conservationist will not only care for the old, but more importantly sow some new. It’s a trick of a true tradesman.