Joseph Childress

Originally self-recorded in 2005, this album has been a long time coming in an official form and has been one of the major development items over at Empty Cellar over the years. RSTB first got a taste of Childress back in 2009 when the label released a split 7" with White White Quilt that featured the two recoding in an abandoned water tower, the Childress track being an especially fragile and gorgeous highlight of that release. In the intervening years he's garnered a live reputation that's only built clamor for this album louder. The Rebirths wears its humble, bathroom recorded origins on its sleeve, feeling like an intimate performance for an audience of one, but thanks to a proper remastering by Paul Oldham the album's quiet solitude now envelops the listener like wood smoke in autumn. The songs aren't embellished with studio sheen, but little is missed in the production department as Childress' cracked, enigmatic voice and backporch delivery seem to transcend the need for lush surroundings and painstaking polish. There's time for all that anyhow since this reissue is the first of three records from the artist that Empty Cellar will release over the next year and a half. Presumably we'll see what the studio lends in the months to come. For now though, its plenty enough to just sink back into The Rebirths with the sense that Childress is sharing a private performance of soon to be well worn favorites.

Listen:


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