In the past two decades, Tashi Dorji has travelled a long road,
recording several dozen albums and touring the world, playing his
guitar solo and in collaboration with inspired others. Gifted with a
sensitive ear to the clarion call of intuitive artistry, he is forever
picking up his instrument and reaching through it to find new sounds.
In this, he has distinguished himself among those who listen to
improvised music as an incisive, distinctive player of moments.
Drag City told Tashi they’d love for him to make a record for them
and he said he’d love to do it. That was the end of the discussion. No
parameters. He thought about it a bit, decided to make an acoustic
guitar record, then he made it and here it is. Very beautifully
recorded, a probing recital in which music, the texture of the
instrument and the nature of the space in the moment which it is
played are all of equal significance. It’s an astonishing sequence of
performances - and when paired with titles like ‘Refusal’, ‘Statues
Crumbles, Heroes Fall’, ‘End Of State’ and ‘The Swelling Fruit About
To Shatter The Husk Of The Old World’, the music is further informed
with elevated vision and purpose.
Like a sculptor, Tashi flecks away at the guitar, percussive strikes
discovering the shades of folkish melodies within, while continuously
shaping other contours. A resourceful and vigorous use of techniques
suggest discourse and discordance. The scraps and ricochets begin to
add up, shots to the head, grazing the side, exposing ribs that grin
dully red. Yet moments of his bluntest touch yield fluidly to lithe
feathering, or pivot to a quiet focus on selected strings, which
threatens to rise up before a moment of gentle subsiding. This is
improvisation: the songs playing through Tashi, beyond choices or
preference. The result only of sitting and playing, no thoughts in that
moment. Yet even the shreddiest, pluckiest, out-of-mindest moments
feel guided, led by a hand from beyond.
With the gravity of a rock-opera and the delicacy of a suite,
‘Stateless’ measures the miles on the charred highway we’re all
presently stalled upon - not going home again, at time on a march
for no reason, other moments insensibly in the weeds, rummaging,
looking for something.
Refusal, Part I 4:09
Refusal, Part II 5:50
Statues Crumble, Heroes Fall 6:35
End of State, Part I 4:49
End of State, Part II 4:25
End of State, Part III 7:47
What You Will Loose, As All Are Lost 5:42
The Swelling Fruit About to Shatter the Husk of The Old World 5:19
Now, Part I 6:52
Now, Part II 2:32