White Gourd

"White Gourd is the soubriquet Suzanne Stone uses for her long-running solo project. Her recordings as White Gourd are distinct from her work in Million Brazilians, the mothership for the Psychic Sounds Collective, who (along with Big Blood, Id M Theft Able and others) have worked tirelessly to keep the Strange Maine banner flapping in the cold northern wind. White Gourd's music uses voice, saxophone, percussion and doo-dads galore to create song-like fields of sound possessing the semiotic weight of rituals celebrating an unknown tongue. There are certain resonances with artists like Fursaxa and Spires That in the Sunset Rise, but as with most Psychic Sounds related music, everything is bathed in a weird light unique to this organization. On (To Walk in) Justice (Calls for) Strength, layers of mystery are piled up and sorted like narwhale tusks, with the vocal and instrumental parts separating themselves into different barrels, then rising to commingle like smoke from a ring of burning peace pipes. Due the LP's title, I had suspected there might be some overt political content here, but it appears the album's overt 'message' is nothing more than setting a continued example of what freedom should sound like. In this sense, the music here is also of a piece with artists like the Sea Ensemble, whose experiments with low-bore improvisation blended elements of free jazz with avant 'new music' detailing and a sort of post-ethnic tribalist aesthetic. Suffice to say this's another beautiful and remarkable release by White Gourd, and if you dig it, you should check out other members of the Psychic Sounds team. Million Brazilians's Urban Fossickated Octave LP (FTR 462LP, 2019) is another stone killer. So do your bit. Keep Maine free, You'll be very glad you did." - Byron Coley, 2026