Name: The Blue Hour
Brand: Loren Connors, Alan Licht

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

ROKU037LP

Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2024-05-31

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Cargo

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

718603188147

Total Cap

Black LP

ROKU037CD

5056321696366

Artist

Loren Connors

Alan Licht

Genre GB

Alternative / Modern

Label GB

OTOROKU

Loren Connors is an American experimental musician, born on October 2, 1949 in New Haven, Connecticut. With a unique style that pushes the boundaries of traditional music, Connors has become a respected figure in the industry.
Known for his mesmerizing guitar compositions and improvisations, *Loren Connors* has captivated audiences with his emotive and atmospheric soundscapes. Drawing inspiration from various genres such as blues, folk, and jazz, he creates haunting melodies that resonate deeply with listeners.
Influenced by artists like Sir Richard Bishop, Robbie Basho, and John Fahey among others,*Loren Connors* has carved out his own niche in the world of experimental music. His distinctive approach to playing the guitar sets him apart from other musicians in the field.

Newest Listed Items

Alan Licht is an improv guitarist and a member of avant-garde rock acts such as Run On, Love Child, and Blue Humans. With influential recordings like "The Evan Dando of Noise?" and "A New York Minute," this Jersey-born artist has become a seminal figure in New York's art music scene.
His unique style and collaborations with artists like *The Shadow Ring*, *Bill Orcutt*, *Phill Niblock*, *Chris Corsano*, and many others have garnered him critical acclaim. Known for his experimental approach to guitar playing, Licht's work pushes the boundaries of traditional music genres.
If you enjoy the sounds of artists such as *David Grubbs*, *The Dead C*, *Steve Roden*, or *Philip Jeck,* then Alan Licht's innovative compositions will surely captivate your musical sensibilities. His contributions to the field have influenced notable musicians including members of the bands *No-Neck Blues Band* and *Wolf Eyes*.

Celebrating thirty years of collaboration, Loren Connors and Alan Licht performed for two nights at OTO on May 5 and 6th, 2023. The shows celebrated a new release titled “At The Top of the Stairs”; a document of the pair's reunion in 2018 after a period of 8 years not playing together. It’s a dark, swirling two-sided spectral noir session, put out by the duo’s home label, Family Vineyard, and we expected a similar kind of atonal abyss to appear at the OTO residency. On the second night however, with the stage lit in blue, Connors took up a seat on the piano stool whilst Licht picked up the guitar. What followed was the duo’s first ever set with Connors on piano - one of only a few times Connors has played piano live at all - here captured and issued as The Blue Hour. Its spacious warmth came as a total surprise live, but makes complete sense for a duo whose dedicated expressionism takes inspiration from a vast spectrum of emotion. Both opening with single notes to start, it doesn't take long before a surface rises and begins to shimmer between the pair. A run up the keys, the drop of a feedback layer on a sustained and bent note. When the two begin to exchange notes in tandem, brief touches of melody and chord hover and the hush of the room is palpapale. After a while, Connors picks up the guitar, stands it in his lap and sweeps a wash of colour across Licht’s melody. Sharp, glassy edges begin to form, open strings and barred frets darkening the space. When his two pedals begin to merge, Licht finds a dramatic organ-like feedback and it’s hard not to imagine Rothko’s Chapel, its varying shades of blue black ascending and descending in the room. When Connors goes back to the piano for the second side, the pair quickly lock into a refrain and light pours in. It’s a kind of sound that Licht says reminds him of what he and Connors would do when the duo first started playing together 30 years ago. It’s certainly more melodic than some of their more recent shows, and the atonal shards of At The Top of the Stairs seem to totally dissolve. What is always remarkable about Licht is that his enormous frame of reference doesn't seem to weigh him down, and instead here he is able to delicately place fractures of a Jackson C Frank song (“Just Like Anything”,) amongst the vast sea of Connors’ blues. Perhaps it's the pleasure of playing two nights in a row together, or the nature of Connor’s piano playing combined with Licht’s careful listening, but the improvisation on The Blue Hour feels remarkably calm and unafraid. There’s nothing to prove and no agenda except the joy of sounding colour together. Totally beautiful.

The Blue Hour

Music GB

Discover The Blue Hour by Loren Connors on Otoroku. A beautiful collaboration captured live, featuring Connors on piano and Licht on guitar. Available in vinyl format.