Alexander is the solo guitar project of New Haven, CT native David Shapiro (Headroom, Nagual). After spending most of 2016 and 2017 touring behind an on-going series of improvised cassette releases that document the various locations Shapiro has lived, he settled down long enough to offer up a full-length LP of fingerpicking tunes. The nine tracks that make up Alexander are bound together by a melancholy sweetness that evokes a performer's wandering lifestyle and the characters they meet along the way. Sonically tied to the 'American Primitive' school of guitar playing, Shapiro distinguishes himself with an exacting, almost academic focus, manipulating tempo and harmony with a confidence far beyond his young years. Where masters like Fahey and Basho drew from earlier musical lineage, Alexander incorporates a contemporary pool of influence, broadening the fingerstyle palette with patience and self-assuredness. Recorded on a guitar that Shapiro built himself, Alexander is an earnest and substantive debut that gives the listener a window into the player's intimate devotion to his instrument and the language it speaks. -Ian McColm Cover text by Cyd Goodwin. Recorded at Key Club Recording Company by Bill Skibbe. 180 gram vinyl; Pressed at Erika Records.
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