Begushkin
Nightly Things
locust89
CD / 180 gram LP
2007-06-19

"Dan Smith plays a maudlin nighttime folk that dances slowly 'round the pub while both entrancing and disturbing in equal measure. With a bit of gypsy charm that blinds you in the moment before he steals your children, Smith seems to ease into the roll of the minstrel. Soft fingers of guitar are invariably wrapped in a lonesome fiddle and strokes of piano all twirling around in a lamentable sadness that floats under Smith's croon that is half David Byrne and half Will Oldham. The aptly named Nightly Things sees release next month via Locust Music, a fitting home for Smith's dark brand of parlor folk" - raven sings the blues

Begushkin is the masterwork of Brooklyn's swinging sultan, multi-instrumentalist and masterful songwriter Dan Smith & friends. Begushkin's debut full length Nightly Things is an 8 track journey into a creepy & disturbing surreal nightlife full of enemies, coarse love, and violence delivered with both a manic desperation and deadpanned absurdity that's augmented by Smith's intricate guitar picking & a woman's mournful harmonies. Nightly Things takes the time honored American Gothic themes and recasts them in a witches brew of middle eastern and eastern European musical influences. The result is a beautifully disorienting trek through the wilderness of Smith's mind.

Recorded at The Lair by Stephan Ryskewitch.