Evan Miller

The Preservation label presents Beeswax Ephemera from Iowa City guitarist Evan Miller. With one eye on the future and one on the past, his playing has considerable technical and abstract expanse, though retains a wonderful melodic sensibility upfront. Evan’s experimental leanings give Beeswax Ephemera an idiosyncratic quality that mark an inventive new talent in the world of artists taking guitar music into exciting new directions. These nominally earthy compositions take flight with the undeniable spirit of country-blues and early Takoma folk recordings from the likes of John Fahey and Leo Kottke, also journeying into more surreal ruminations for a rapturous work sitting somewhere between downhome, mysterious and timeless. After taking piano and clarinet lessons as a child, Evan acquired his first six-string at 14, though it stayed propped against a wall for a time until the age-old spur of competitive teenage boys made him pick it up and start playing. It was a quick transition from aping FM radio rock staples to fingerpicking folk, via a copy of Stephan Grossman’s instruction classic Country-Blues Guitar book passed on by his father. It’s influence still looms large: The closing track on Beeswax Ephemera is a dynamic take on Furry Lewis blues classic I Will Turn Your Money Green that also finds room for a blistering snatch of electric guitar, rolling clarinet lines and sleigh bells by its end. Beeswax Ephemera was originally self-released by Evan in a handmade edition of 150, primarily sold on tour in the US in the summer of '07. This new Preservation edition has been mastered by former Yellow Swans member Pete Swanson and also features a suite of new pieces that display an even newer breadth in Evan’s style, “Three Visions of Stylites”. (Label info)