Recorded in 1999 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Honeysuckle Tendrals was Carl Simmons’ 2nd effort at a full length recording. He released it into the world in a miniscule edition of cassette tapes on his own Unconscious Piano Productions imprint. To say it was poorly distributed is an understatement. It was handed out to friends, and perhaps sold at various open mic nights, where he would sometimes pass off his own songs as Bob Dylan tunes to an unsuspecting audience.
Incorporating numerous collage elements—and very few guitar strings—Honeysuckle Tendrals weaves in and out of song in a spacey wash of psychedelic imagery by way of nursery rhymes and fairytales. Owing influence to writers like Lewis Carroll, and filmmakers like Herzog and Lynch, as much as any musical influence, Carl’s music can have something of a cinematic feel. Though perhaps best classified under the floppy umbrella of “outsider” music, Honeysuckle Tendrals displays remarkably complex arrangements utilizing a staggeringly simple arsenal of instruments: a broken guitar, sound collage, and heavily layered vocal tracks filtered through an array of effects. Think Peter Grudzien reading mother goose, The Cheshire Cat conducting the Langley School Music Project, or Bob Dylan singing unknown lullabies with a head full of helium.
2009 marks the 10th year anniversary of the recording of Honeysuckle Tendrals, and we at Sacred Bones are proud to give it a proper audience after so many years. The LP is an edited and slightly resequenced presentation; carefully curated, remastered for vinyl, and housed in a handmade jacket in the Folkways tradition. It includes a bonus 7-inch EP including two alternate takes from the LP and two outstanding and completely exclusive non-album tracks. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
LIMITED TO 400 copies
