James Blackshaw

James Blackshaw once made Michael Gira cry. Not by sucker-punching the poor guy. It was something much simpler: Blackshaw reduced the former Swan frontman — a menacing presence even as he eclipses AARP eligibility — to tears through nothing but a finger-picked acoustic and minimal, melancholic chords. It's easy to understand why. As Gira wrote in a press release celebrating Blackshaw's signing to his Young God imprint, the widely-acclaimed 12-string maestro writes "absolutely beautiful and spellbinding music," a growing catalogue of richly-textured, deftly-delivered cuts that pull at your heartstrings like a child yanking a mother's coat.

A natural extension of last year's Litany of Echoes LP and his Brethren of the Free Spirit side project with Jozef Van Wissem, The Glass Bead Game furthers Blackshaw's development as a skilled musician and a modern-day composer — the kind that's able to reel in concert halls and "the kids." Skip to any song on here, really, and you'll be at a loss to describe it as anything less than "mesmerizing." The trick is in how quickly Blackshaw's able to get our attention, whether it's through tenderized piano melodies and swoon-worthy strings ("Fix") or a towering triumph like the appropriately titled 18 minutes of "Arc."

Guests include two Current 93 contributors (Joolie Wood, violin, clarinet, flute; John Contreras, cello) and a classically trained singer (Lavinia Blackwall, also of Directing Hand). Aside from adding some lovely, welcome touches to each track, they help nudge Blackshaw away from the Fahey comparisons and toward something downright orchestral. Keep an eye on this one; if Blackshaw wants to, and the right people hear him, he'll be writing sweeping, Oscar-nominated film scores in no time.