Greg Davis
b. 1976, Crystal Lake, Illinois, USA. From his adopted home in Chicago, Davis creates charming escapist musical montages. Although his music often seem like the work of a naive or outsider artist, Davis actually studied classical and jazz guitar alongside composition and jazz studies at DePaul University, Chicago and received a Master's Degree in Composition at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston. Davis issued his debut, Arbor, in 2002 via Toss Hyman's Carpark Records, finding resonance in a combination of laptop computers and acoustic guitars (as well as a sample of folk icon Nick Drake). The follow-up, Curling Ponds Woods, took its name from the housing development in which Davis grew up - the house he lived in actually features in the liner notes. Expansively orchestrated and compositionally focused, the album was overtly influenced by Brian Wilson, a disposition acknowledged via a cover of the Beach Boys' "At My Window". The Wilson/Jardine lyrics of "A little brown sparrow came flutterin' down/He came to my window/And as I watched him, I found myself reelin' and turnin' around' are apposite to the atmosphere of Davis" magical world. To further accentuate this mood, Davis compiled field recordings through binaural microphones (a device that is placed in the ears and records the way a person listens). Davis also looked to the Incredible String Band for a cover track ("Air"), but in contrast to that band's folk origins Davis processed his music almost entirely via a computer. On his laptop, Davis scored pieces for xylophone, static and peculiar noise and subjected looped acoustic instruments to computer manipulation, occasionally reminiscent of musicians such as Steve Reich or Susumu Yokota.
Listen to Greg Davis
at Finetune.
Albums
- (2005) Arbor
- (2005) Curling Pond Woods
Top Tracks
- Brocade
- At My Window
- Brocade (Rewoven)
- Slightly Asleep
- Air
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