The duo of Jim White (Dirty Three and regular Ed Kuepper collaborator) and Greek laouto player, Giorgos Xylouris, collaboratively known as Xylouris White have announced news of upcoming album, The Forest In Me. It is the duo’s sixth studio album, and seventh overall following the release of their self-released Live At Columbus Theatre 2013 in 2021.
Work for The Forest In Me began in 2019, with Jim and George sending ideas through to each other along with long-time producer, and unofficial third member of the band, Guy Picciotto. Soon after, with the advent of the pandemic, this method of song-writing became increasingly relevant, with travel restrictions around the world making direct contact throughout a large portion of the ensuing years virtually impossible. As Guy Picciotto put it “In late 2019, we had begun taking steps to working on new material. In a haphazard fashion, Jim and I started tracking drums in my basement, cutting them up into shapes with no set landing in mind. Some of it we sent to Giorgos in Crete – he responded with his lyra and his lute. Without intention we had initiated a process that would soon become more ruthlessly mandated by the world events that separated and isolated us to three corners of the globe in the following year.”
The tyranny of distance had also worked in their favour to some extent. George Xylouris explains “While we were recording, I noticed that the music had a certain solitude about it, both from the title and from inside. That led us to find more music from within that we had not yet discovered.”
Jim feels that “The idea emerged, naturally nourished, and nourishing a record with none of our usual angles and themes, no verbal language, no angst nor sudden dynamics, a more subtle structure. And we found The Forest In Me.”
The Forest In Me is out 14 April via Remote Control Records. Pre-order / pre-save the album at https://xylouris-white.lnk.to/theforestinme
Feature Photo: Marco Pistoia
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