Eddie Marcon – Shining on Graveposts (Preservation)

Sydney label Preservation brings us an extraordinary and surprising piece of lo-fi arcane folk with the debut album from Eddie Marcon. Not a single male artist, this is in fact a duo made up of Eddie Corman, guitarist and singer from all-female psych-rock band Coa, and bassist Marcon. This is music with the indefinable something that makes an instant classic, while all the same it’s so understated it could slip right under your radar while you’re hearing it.
There’s a melancholy to this music which is touching without being lugubrious – the introspection of a stay-at-home rainy day. Eddie’s vocals, often multi-tracked, hover on the edge of de-tuned, never grating like some members of the Japanese folk scene, but rather give the music a fragile beauty. Meanwhile the guitar playing is enveloping yet stark, and the production hazy, as if dubbed from a 5th generation tape decades old.
Blues and Eastern European musics are referenced, weird noises ping and crunch in the background while the songs swirl in comforting patterns – and almost every song has a hook the swings it away from the mundane at some point. Guest appearances from members of Coa, the Boredoms and Test Pattern lend extra percussion and a wonderful clarinet solo, but it’s the delicate simplicity and magical songwriting paired with Eddie’s other-worldly performances that make this album so special.