James Blackshaw - The Mirror Speaks
End-of-year lists aren't my thing. I'll save them for those people who actually get to hear music as it's being released, rather than several years later. That seems to be about my speed. That doesn't mean that I don't love to read them however, and one name I keep seeing this year is James Blackshaw.

Blackshaw is a young British guitarist, with something of a mystical bent. His latest album is The Cloud of Unknowing, named after an unusual 14th century text on Christian mysticism¹. I think it's a rule that all 12-string guitar pieces have to be described as "folk-inspired", and while there's clearly some of that here, Blackshaw's music, dense with notes, seems not to come from any kind of tradition but from the inner contemplation that the book describes.

Looking for a track that would support this thesis, I could do no better than to present you with The Mirror Speaks. Some critics have protested that sometimes Blackshaw plays just too many notes, that his style is too busy. For me, that isn't a problem: I've spent years listening to minimalism, and picking out the tiny emphases that give new shapes to the repeating patterns. But even if that isn't your thing, chances are you will enjoy this. It's just gorgeous, gorgeous music.

1. Unusual in that there's no theology, rather it's a more of a pocket guide to meditation techniques.

James Blackshaw - The Mirror Speaks