Stone Breath

Rank #16 Red Lion, PA Folk / Trance / Experimental

About

Members: timeMOTHeye, Prydwyn, Sarada, Don Belch, Brooke Elizabeth, Carin Sloan

Sounds Like: The Incredible String Band, CoB Rules, Derroll Adams, Pearls Before Swine, Donovan

Label: Hand/Eye

Bio: Stone Breath is part of the earth. Metal, hair, wood, skin, flesh, leaf, breath, and bone make our songs. We sing of ghosts and the green wood. ..Stone Breath is not new. It is cracked. Broken. Imperfect. Hidden. Weathered by the seasons... ..Stone Breath began in 1995 and continues today.

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Press

“...Twist of Thorn has quickly become one of my favorites. Almost completely avoiding the traditional guitar, Twist of Thorn is mostly centered around the use of harp and "lute guitar" (a guitar with a lute body, giving it a much more lute-like tone), and the outcome is nothing short of pure musical magic. With the much more "ancient" sounding instruments (harp and lute both predate the guitar), this collection of songs takes on a much more pastoral, mystical and medieval sort of character. At his most bard-like, Renner's calm, sleepy baritone only furthers the "Renaissance" comparison. A quiet, sparse exercise in modern American folk perfection.”

— The Inarguable

“The first live recording from the long-running Stone Breath, The Snow-White Ghost-White Stag, is both a great live, and intimate, document and a thoroughly rich one....Whether it’s in the versatile and complex songs and execution, the ghostly narratives or the setting they create, Stone Breath shape a world that strikes a chord that you feel more than you might actually know. Titles with signposts of hooves, soldiers, crows, skeletons and, unsurprisingly, psalms (that’s how their Earthy and otherworldly glimpses come across) shape-shift into blazes on a trail through a timeless path.Timothy Renner, Brooke Elizabeth and Carin Wagner Sloan’s vocals play off and compliment each other while giving their songs of ‘ghosts and the green wood’ a unified voice. One made up of much more than just three, including Don Belch’s crucial lead work. ...a chronicle of places familiar, unfamiliar and the blurry point where they both converge as well as take separate.”

— Mr. Atavist, Sunrise Ocean Bender

“...The Night Birds Psalm finds the band continuing in what's been a constant creative rush in the 2010s. Musically the emphasis on predominantly (but not solely) acoustic instrumentation meant to invoke a stark, dark folk past remains core, with banjo leading many of the songs in a quick, skillful pace -- though on "Sweet Flowers and Damp Grave," electric guitar provides a bed that really invokes the acid folk idea as perfectly as one could want. There's a sense of Renner and company's ear for skillful variety now coming even clearer to the fore, whether it's the trading off of vocals on "Walking Sam" or the sudden shift in both instrumentation and singing on "Page 43 Upon the Wind." But perhaps even more noticeable is the personal strength of many lyrical moments... "Mothwing Sacred Heart," meanwhile, touches on various elements of the album in a lengthy conclusion, a slow, steady swing and sway of a number, soft vocal intensity set against deep, strong instrumental performances.”

— Ned Raggett, All Music Guide

“The latest Stone Breath is an interesting combination of the old and the new. The old is represented not only by their core aesthetic - old-time folk music played with traditional instruments - but by the presence of constant leader TimeMothEye and and long-time player Prydwyn ; the new element consists of new players Don Belch, Carin Wagner Sloan, Brooke Elizabeth, and the mysterious Kira. ... One of the things that makes this album a bit different from its predecessors is the presence of three female vocalists, who provide different voices both solo and together throughout the album, to especially great effect on the haunting "The Snow-White Ghost-White Stag" .... The musicianship is excellent, as always, and the lyrics are both haunting and evocative; in fact, this may be the band's best album yet. Highly recommended. ”

— RKF, The One True Dead Angel

"The Night Birds Psalm" (Hand/Eye) is - in comparison to the alienating "The Ætheric Lamp" reviewed last issue - boldly accessible in a way they have never been before. Yet don't think that this means a compromise of their unique grainy darkness; the words and music may be easier to grasp, but the mood is as unearthly as ever. "This is What the Sparrow Sings" is my favourite; it's Stone Breath in a relatively buoyant mood, meditating on the ageing process (believe me, that's jovial subject matter for them) to an acid-folk nursery rhyme backing. "Who is Listening?" (Hand/Eye) is "Night Birds"' companion piece, and a shorter, plainer work. It includes re-recordings of some of their 90's songs... These new versions remind me of why I fell in love with all that was weird in folk music in the first place. At its best, folk is soul-slicing stuff. Who is listening? I am. And I always will be."

— Jeanette Leech, Shindig

“The Night Birds Psalm is one of two new releases from this excellent underground folk band. ... This is a genuinely spectacular album, full of creative musical ideas and lyrics that quite honestly put the famous poets and lyricists to shame. Available from www.darkhollerarts.com”

— Kim Harten, Bliss Aquamarine

“'The Night Birds Psalm' is, without a doubt, the most versatile and compositionally sound effort to date from Stone Breath and features a dual-gender vocal effort and musicianship that seems to effortlessly top their previous output, though “The Aetheric Lamp” also showcased this kind of technical growth. The versatility of the tracks is just one aspect amongst many that make this an incredible work...Their music paints sound in Autumnal tones that breathes their own unique sense of beauty into the soul of the music. Again, criminally underrated, but immensely respected amongst those whose souls are comforted by Stone Breath’s compositions. ”

— Sage, Heathen Harvest

““The Night Birds Psalm” is nothing short of a masterpiece, a contender for album of the year and one of the best offerings ever from the Stone Breath stable....Managing to sound both like a long lost acid-folk classic and as a completely new strain of folk music, it is the very timeless quality of the album that will be its future strength, best heard around a crackling fire nightfall burning visions in your soul.”

— Simon Lewis, Terrascope Online

“...So, if yooz searching for compelling bare-arsed WHICKER MAN chants, Odinist tales of one-eyed sages, and banjo-driven odes to Devil children, then look no further than Brother Revelator and his righteous ensemble Stone Breath.”

— Julian Cope, Head Heritage

“This is one of the heaviest albums I have ever heard, and there’s not one shred of distortion within. ... it stands in between medieval folk, world, metal and chant music so skilfully it creates it’s own destination, a name for which I don’t believe should be said, just heard. Suffice to say this music isn’t made by art school hipsters trying to fit into Pitchfork, this music is heavy shit. Occult, wyrd, rustic, soulful, exquisitely played hermetically sealed inside it’s own deeply serious and intoxicating universe.”

— David Frampton, Foxy Digitalis

“ ...it should be sufficient to simply say that „The Aetheric Lamp“ contains some of the most enthralling sounds currently to be found in the much fragmented field of contemporary folk music.”

— m.g. , African Paper

"Containing three tracks from their latest album, Stone Breath prove themselves to be in fine form on their side of this split LP. After the very brief “Beautiful and Terrible”, a “Blink and you will miss it” moment, the band slip effortlessly into gear for the wyrd-folk workout that is “Scorpion Tears”. With rattling banjo driving the song, a dancing flute, guitar and rich deep vocals balanced by female harmonies, the song represents all that is good about the group, a deeply atmospheric tune that soaks deep into your soul. Stretching out even further “The Sky's Red Tongue” delves even deeper into the mystery, an eastern feel pervading the track,a divine and psychedelic walk through an imagined forest, alive with possibilities and crackling with energy. ... this release oozes quality, creating a damn near perfect slab of vinyl, highly recommended."

— Simon Lewis, Terrascope Online

"I have the impression Stone Breath sound continues to grow, possible because of extra attention to a second faster picking guitar added to it, with some female voices that can reach neo-pagan-like celebrative but also medieval music flavours (on the last track), with a growing sensitivity to an almost middle eastern kind of psychedelically droning dance... A very enjoyable release suited for repeated listening..."

— Acidfolk Review

"I could not be happier that Timothy resurrected this project, and the people he has working with him on this latest release, "The Aetheric Lamp," are absolutely fantastic. I didn't think he would find as worthy a technically-adept-but-still-in-full-command-of-the-vibe instrumental cohort as Prydwyn was, but this Don Belch fellow he has playing with him appears to be a total f*#king monster. TONS of very interesting and strange acoustic instruments all over this thing, and Tim's voice is stronger than ever. Fans of The Iditarod will be pleased to hear Carin's voice back again on these songs, as well as Brooke Elizabeth. Timothy's development of his special take on the style continues to astound me with its exponential growth. Such a high recommendation I can rarely make. Masterful." - on "The Ætheric Lamp" CD

— online music forum

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2012
Aug 25

Banned in York
secret, PA, US | 9:00pm
Private Show: Banned in York
secret, PA, US
Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:00pm
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- Tickets
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This is a private show near York PA - due to Stone Breath being banned from a previous engagement on the same day. If you want to see us play, we would love to play for you. A limited number of guests will be invited.
2012
Mar 31

Schlow Centre Region Li…
State College, PA, US | 7:30pm
Schlow Centre Region Libra...
State College, PA, US
Sat Mar 31, 2012 7:30pm
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2011
Aug 6

The Abbey Bar at Appala…
Harrisburg, PA, US | 8:00pm
The Abbey Bar at Appalachi...
Harrisburg, PA, US
Sat Aug 06, 2011 8:00pm
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