Perhaps Transparent Records

On their third full length release, Pothole Skinny holds nothing back by means of folk exploration. From slow moving waltz ballads and eastern dream ragas, to full-on electric blues pysch-boogie... The group manages to wrangle their musical ideas and AM influence into a collection of songs encompassing the "Secrets of the Palisades" - folk myths and legends left behind by history for exploration. This release also finds new guests entering into the fold including fellow New Jerseyan and psych song mistress Marianne Nowottny belting haunting vocals on the homemade tambura based track "Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs". All tracks Recorded/Mixed 2005-2006 at Connemerra Winds, Jersey City NJ by Stephen Connolly. Except Track 6 recorded by Andy Sloan with additional recording at Connemerra Winds. Other recent projects by Pothole Skinny members include contributions to recent releases by Tower Recordings, Two Dollar Guitar, PG Six, Marianne Nowottny, Emerald Tablets, and Ziggurat.

Track Listing:
1. Bow Down (5:05)
2. The Séance of Old Bergen (5:14)
3. A Rose for Agnes (6:11)
4. Atlantic Winds (5:10)
5. Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs (12:08)
6. Moon Sickle Blues (2:58)
7. Roivas (4:40)
8. Awakened Tribes Will Rise (7:45)
9. Will the Circle Be Unbroken (2:57)

Special Guests:
Marianne Nowottny - Vocals: "Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs"
Megan Freeman - Vocals: "Moon Sickle Blues"
Tasha Rifkin - Flute: "Awakened Tribes Will Rise"

Videos:
Pothole Skinny "Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs" (Live Excerpt w/Marianne Nowottny):

Reviews:
Terrascope online (by Jeff Penczak):
The third album from this Jersey City (New Jersey) folk rock quartet opens with the haunting stalker, Bow Down, an ominously creepy crawl across the frozen tundras of your mind that s eerily reminiscent of our favourite Minneapolis psychedelic wyrdfolkers, Salamander and Skye Klad. Tablas, sitar-like acoustic guitars and buzzing drones trickle through the appropriately spine tingling The Séance of Old Bergen, as the band, like all great folk artists, once again incorporates local legends into their work, Old Bergen being the original name for Jersey City when it was first settled over 375 years ago indeed, the 325-year old, Old Bergen Church is the longest continuous congregation in New Jersey. [Anyone interested in further research should consult Daniel Van Winkle s incredibly thorough Old Bergen: History and Reminiscences, published over a century ago and available online. JP] Culminating in a whirling maelstrom of ghostly sonics and...bagpipes(!?), the song is simultaneously relaxing and unsettling, as a good séance should be! A Rose for Agnes soft-shoe shuffles into the room, pirouettes to cascading and Hawaiian-styled guitars and abruptly and gracefully makes way for the smooth instrumental, Atlantic Winds to float dreamily across the horizon, with a weeping slide guitar adding to its misty-eyed aura. Fellow Jersey artist, Marianne Nowottny, poster child for all things wyrd and wylde, fits right into that Old Bergen séance by channeling ghostly apparitions and contributing spoken-word moans throughout the epic frightfest, Gentle Ghosts on the Limbs, which will confound the more straight-laced folkies like myself, but will probably make the short list of must-hear avant, free-folk performance pieces cherished by fans of lovable Finnish loony, Jan Anderzén, master of ceremonies of Avarus, Kemialliset Ystävät, et. al. However, 11+ minutes of this is a bit more than my head can bear, but I can certainly see fans of Spires That In The Sunset Rise, Fursaxa, and the more experimental outings of Charalambides digging the hell out of this. Roivas suggests more than a few Neil Young & Crazy Horse albums have visited the Skinny boys stereos, and the banjo adds a nice, backwoods, loner/stoner vibe to the proceedings. Elsewhere, Tasha Rifkin s flute solos on Awaken Tribes Will Rise is at once soothing, nostalgic and heartbreaking, a fitting elegy to the titular band of outsiders. I only wish the band hadn t elected to recite the lyrics out of the ass end of a rubber hose, thus defeating any sympathy one might have for the sleeping tribesmen, but white-hot guitar solos and tribal percussive pounding are almost enough to forgive their vocal indiscretion. The band acknowledge the century anniversary of Will the Circle Be Unbroken with a wind chime and slide guitar rendition that features a faint air of Amazing Grace peeking in and wraps this wonderful album up on a cheerful vibe of love and togetherness.

"Like all latter-day wayward folk offerings, there's no shortage of pastoral Fairport-esque plinking and ethereal vocal harmonies... As an exploratory venture, Time Shapes the Forest Lake is like a stroll through the thickets with only a stethoscope to guide ye."
-MAGNET Magazine

"...Hallucinatory and lovely, with ghostly details and haunted moody atmospherics. Songs like slightly sinister lullabies that emerge from the ground as vapor, or reel around the ears like surreal dry land sea shanties..."
-Dream Magazine

"Wonderful, just perfect example of psych folk / acid exp. Folk / psych folk pop. A future classic. Best psych folk release of the year."
-Psyche van het Folk

Track Listing:
1. Kroghs' Whisper 0:32
2. The Sussex Railroad Song (4:53)
3. Dream Of The Labia Lament (1:34)
4. Antique Gasoline (7:49)
5. Scroll Of Westport Quay (6:37)
6. The Ernest Equinox (6:39)
7. May-Gun Explosive Flower (4:26)
8. Beneath The Frozen Pond (3:46)
9. When Morpheus Calls For Slumber (3:27)

Reviews:
The Ptolemaic Terrascope (Tony Dale):
Pothole Skinny was founded by multi-instrumentalist Stephen Connolly in the late 90s as vehicle for what could best be described as pastorally-inclined acid folk explorations. After a recommendation from friend Pat Gubler (Tower Recordings/P.G Six), Pat's Tower Recordings' band-mate Scott Freyer was added to the line-up on percussion. The current incarnation of the band was completed by the addition of Frank Murphy on guitar. Back-porch Kosmishe-leaning folk collectives seem to be sprouting up all over the place in a manner pleasing to mycologists everywhere, but this one has impeccable bloodlines and the result can definitely be heard in the grooves. Acoustic textures are mixed organically with field recordings on the opening track 'Krogh's Whisper', which leads into the relaxed vibe of the 'Sussex Railroad Song' and the parallels with the Tower Recordings/P.G Six axis are apparent but not programmatic. The track soon evolves in a skyward-dreaming direction that will be familiar to those lucky enough to have encountered the past few Fit & Limo records - a far more apt reference point. The creaking woodshed ambience of 'Dream of Labia Lament' reminds one a little of the Iditarod and the great but virtually unknown Verdure (see feature this issue!) but is merely a bridge to greater things. The record carves it's own place in legend with the extraordinary eight minute centrepiece track 'Antique Gasoline'. The vocals, though not strong, lilt in the most compelling way imaginable through this acoustic odyssey; core instruments supplemented by spectral sounds made on harmonium, psaltery, gopichand, cello and flute, and the ubiquitous Mr. Gubler contributes immeasurably on harp. I hesitate to conjure the spirit of the Incredible String Band, but the track really is that good. That vibe is maintained in the excellent 'Scroll of Westport Quay' before jagged shards of electric guitar erupt from speakers in the murderously key instrumental/chant 'The Ernest Equinox' which is all pagan darkness and druidic sacrifice. By contrast, 'May-Gun Explosive Flower' is a rural rumination that doesn't sound anything like you imagine it might from the title. 'Beneath the Frozen Pond' is as close as the record gets to conventional rock albeit in a primitive VU mould and is one of those tracks that changes character depending on what volume it is played at. As loud as you can stand is a good way to experience it. The haunted-porchlight elegance of 'Morpheus Calls For Slumber' brings the record down nicely in a nearly corn-field, spinning up a few puzzling geometries as it comes to rest.

Dream Magazine (George Parsons):
Built around the creative core of ex member of The Gwens Stephen Connolly, friends Scott Freyer, and Frank Murphy playing an assortment of electric and acoustic instruments. In just under 40 minutes these sneaky bent folkies make some lovely and slightly twisted music over the course of the nine songs here. With assistance from past and present members of PG Six, Tower Recodings, Rex, Timesbold, Elf Power and others, this album is richly illuminated by it's instrumentation. Hallucinatory and lovely, with ghostly details and haunted moody atmospherics. Songs like slightly sinister lullabies that emerge from the ground as vapor, or reel around the ears like surreal dry land sea shanties. Spirits circle the house all night moaning, while random scree and possom caught in a garden of wire shifts to slurping soft nose cones out of a hookah made of phosphorescent yellow crystal that pulses a soft rhythm into the warm night air and soothes all the tired ghosts to sleep.

MAGNET Magazine (Joe S. Harrington):
Call them porch minstrels-collectives like PG Six, Campfire Songs, Cerberus Shoal and even Japan's Acid Mothers Temple during their more subdued moments: These folk-influenced enclaves camp out in a "natural" environment while letting their music evolve organically and be fed by its surroundings. On Time Shapes The Forest Lake, field recordings join vocals, acoustic and electric guitars and a host of other eclectic instrumentation, from cello to banjo to gong to bowed psaltery, all expertly played by this roving horde of maypole-dancing troubadours. The group revolves around the nucleus of Stephen Connolly, Scott Freyer and Frank Murphy, three guitarists whose own interplay can at times evoke everything from the Velvet Underground during its primordial Ludlow Street days ("The Ernest Equinox") to the somber, hypnotic prisms of '60S folkies like the Incredible String Band ("Antique Gasoline"). Like all latter-day wayward folk offerings, there's no shortage of pastoral Fairport-esque plinking and ethereal vocal harmonies ("Beneath The Frozen Pond"). Good-timey organ invades "Beneath The Frozen Pond" a la the Grateful Dead, and parts of this LP possess the same psychedelic sense of cryptic envelopment as early Dead opuses like Anthem Of The Sun. As an exploratory venture, Time Shapes The Forest Lake is like a stroll through the thickets with only a stethoscope to guide ye. Just don't eat the mushrooms.