Bill Orcutt

They may seem poles apart, but the guitar deconstructions of former Harry Pussy member Bill Orcutt on “A New Way To Pay Old Debts” place him alongside the likes of John Fahey. During the latter years of his life, Fahey deliberately turned his back on his earlier fingerpicking style to explore other ways of how to play solo guitar. To do this he allowed himself to slip into a state of altered consciousness - his fingers instinctively found the notes on the fretboard, but his imagination was unleashed from the routine of chord changing to discover new sounds. Meanwhile Orcutt, on “A New Way To Pay Old Debts”, has absorbed himself in the work of blues legends “Mississippi” Fred McDowell and Lightnin’ Hopkins, flamenco guitarist Ramon Montoya, Bahamian guitar master Joseph Spence and British improvisor Derek Bailey, whose influence echoes loudest here, and crashes these styles together with such enefgy that his guitar sounds in danger of splintering into matchwood.