At first glance, From These Hands is an art release. But on second glance, it’s a poetry project: a poem by label owner Leonardo Rosado entitled “All things yet to be shaped” inspired the illustrations. This poem, a deep and impressionistic offering delivered in a mournful and restrained cadence, appears at the beginning of the fifth track under a slightly different title. Some may argue that this is the album’s pivotal moment: the appearance of the voice, the intention, the point. And yet, the album was not built around the poem, but the poem in reaction to the music: ”I am all things yet to be shaped – a grain of sand yet to become a desert, a drop of water waiting for the storm, a spark of light at the tallest hour of the winter night”.
We last encountered the music of Bobby Jones (I’ve Lost) in conjunction with Birds of Passage; his subtle, drawn-out guitar notes and tones are well suited to the addition of collaborators, as they provide a barren field in which signs of life are suggested, but never spelled out. ”I’ve Lost” is a fitting name, as Jones’ music sounds lonely and forlorn, at times almost defeated. But perhaps – as is apparent here – his music is also the grain of sand waiting to become the desert: a larger loneliness, profound in scope. His music invites the listener to ruminate, to come to conclusions that might not otherwise be made, accessing sublimated thought and buried emotion.~ "A closer listen"
credits
released December 19, 2012
music written, produced and mastered by i’ve lost
spoken word on track #5 by barry sanders
illustrations by ivo hoogveld
poetry and design by leonardo rosado
Minimalist compositions that take their time unfolding, bands of sound melting glacier-like from one end of the song to the other. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 6, 2023