Loner Folk

A few of my all time favorite loner records. The sound of broken men, broken guitars, music not long for the world and words most often trapped inside the singer. When making this list I was trying to exclude when possible more well known artists (such as Nick Drake and Neil Young), while of course some like Skip Spence almost define the genre.
1. Skip Spence "Oar"
Recorded with Spence playing all the instruments himself in a Nashville studio, this record is without a doubt the sacred centerpiece of the loner folk galaxy. Songs like "Diana" and "Broken Heart" are the sounds of a man on the canyon's edge of total despair, the guitars so fragile they sound like the creak of floorboards in an ancient country house. This album offers more and more each time I attempt to get inside it; it's also made me marvel at what a otherworldy character Spence brought to Moby Grape. One of the saddest, most singular expressions of human frailty ever captured on analog tape.
2. Bob Desper "New Sounds"
Just Bob and his guitar in a Pacific Northwest studio. A spectral, spare ambience that almost serves as a male counterpart to someone like Collie Ryan or Buffie Sainte Marie. Desper sings with a lilting country tone and his songs are meandering, hazy brushes of sound, waltzing in and out of tempo while he speaks of darkness, of blind men winding down roads to nowhere. Atmosphere is key here, it's not as if the subject matter is the bleakest ever addressed; his lyrics are more like vague haikus than narrative tales of woe. It's all about Bob's solemn, earnest voice working its way in and out of intricate guitar patterns and primitive decays of studio echo. Absolutely stunning.
3. Perry Leopold "Experiments in Metaphysics"
Another self pressed artifact from the seventies. Much like Desper, Perry Leopold uses just his guitar and voice to paint stark portraits of total loneliness and urban isolation. "Cold in Philadelphia" and the long "Everything Goes When You're Gone" in which the broken hearted narrator has a verbal spar with "Mr Satan" are some of the highlights.
4. Chris Bell "I Am the Cosmos"
A bit of a diversion here in the eyes of some. Still, I see Bell as the tragically underrated half of Big Star. Chilton may have been the savvy head but Bell was no doubt the heart, and his personal defeat and sadness pervade every second of the music on his (unreleased in his lifetime) solo record. Not all the songs here fit the style I am addressing, but "Speed of Sound" is just as heartbreaking as anything I've ever heard, ditto for the stunning "I Am the Cosmos", in which Bell attempts accept a Zen like renunciation of desire/oneness with the universe, while still being unable to put his failed love out of the picture: "Every night I tell myself I am the cosmos, I am the wind/But that don't get you back again."
5. Ted Lucas "Om"
While I think most people have failed to hear it yet, I would rate the finest moments of this album with "Oar". Lucas is an extraordinary guitar player in the style of Jansch or Kottke, as showcased in a long raga workout on side two, but the songs on side one are beautiful and sparsely arranged gems. As I said, if you love "Oar" you will dig the frequency this guy is coming in on.
More soon...