This was recorded live on June 20, 2024. It was the date of the Summer Solstice, so I thought it would be interesting to try playing my song Holly King on a Hill (which has lyrics about the summer and winter solstices), and doing it as a long-form presentation where I would stretch the song out over two sets, totaling at least two hours.

The song's four verses neatly divide the song into two halves of two verses apiece. I'd previously done different variations of this in different configurations, usually playing long improvised middle sections between the two halves of the song, and sometimes even playing whole other songs in those sections.

This performance was unique, though, in that I played the song over two sets, and I like to think that it qualifies as the longest-ever Holly King. Set 1 starts with the first two verses and continues roughly in that vein for a while before going into some other kinds of spaces, and set 2 starts in one of these other kinds of spaces and eventually ends with the last two verses of the song, about an hour later.

Track splits were done where there was a change in the main motif, or the loop that I was using underneath the rest of the music.

For the heads, there's a brief Dark Star quote, which I think went unnoticed by the patrons of The Wine Collective, in Set 2.

This music was fun to play, and I hope that it will also be an enjoyable listen.

Thank You.

released September 6, 2024

Dave Heumann, guitar and vocals

Special thanks to Nate Yielding and to The Wine Collective

Recorded in a single evening in November 2022, using two amplifiers. It is edited for length and feel (i.e. sections were cut out that didn't seem to work as well) but not cross-faded. Any segues are as they were played and not the result of editing after the fact.

There is a slight binaural audio effect added in post-processing that will at times give the headphone-wearer the illusion of back-to-front and front-to-back movement, however this was done to a subtle enough extent to not create artifacts when listened to in speakers.

Thank you for allowing this music in through your senses, for allowing it to exist within your awareness.

Sun Cru SC07-2022

Dave Heumann's newest solo record, Guitar Tapes Vol 1, is music for the journey — a masterful collection of seven electric guitar improvisations for the traveler and the traveler's visions. At once transportive, meditative, and grounding, Guitar Tapes Vol 1 integrates moments of serene observance with up-tempo exhilaration, drawing you forward through wooded footpaths and forested foregrounds that dissolve into sloping fields and megalithic horizons. Having stepped into an unknown yet familiar place, you get the feeling that everything you need is here, right now, within you, with the woods of the world flowing by, bending into the resonant periphery. It is your world, after all, and always has been, and Dave, with his music of heartening, amaranthine growth, gives dexterous articulation to the silent, knowing nature within — the nature that you know you are.

As with much of Dave's music, Guitar Tapes Vol 1 invites you to walk with him for a time — to perceive with wonder the subtle seismic shifts beneath the arbours. The seven improvisations compiled here evoke sonic atmospheres that lend themselves to years of exploration. Whether you're near a turntable or traveling across the wild country, the images conjured by this record blend spontaneously into the steady walk of the mind. The body and spirit become one and the same. The journey is at once inward-going and outward-going. Prismatic and tessellated. A tribute to trusting yourself, without question, to know the way, to make the right move, in the moment.

We are deeply honored and overjoyed to offer these extraordinary recordings from a musical icon and innovator whose profound engagement with musical process, close listening, and sonic storytelling continues to inspire and reward fans, musicians, and spiritual voyagers the world over.

— Sun Cru

Dave Heumann's notes on production: "This collection was compiled from recordings made throughout December 2021 and January 2022, almost entirely in the late evening hours. None of the music here was composed prior to being played, and no overdubs were added after the fact. Everything was recorded with a mono source coming directly from the recording output of a tube amp into an audio interface, and some plugins were used in mixing for tonal coloring and for widening the stereo field."

Excerpt from Steve Johnson's liner notes: "The magic hour's grand changeover can be heard rendered in a tenor drone amidst the granular sputtering of upper register modal runs that flutter like bats in a crepuscular feast of echo-location, each patiently waiting for their call to propagate through the rarefied slap-back air. The trail, stony underfoot, played out in an ever-unfurling tone to be followed to the outermost edge where the elevation drops." credits released September 16, 2022

Played, recorded and mixed by Dave Heumann Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering CD manufacturing by Morphius Records Vinyl manufacturing by Blue Sprocket Pressing Photos by Dave Heumann Liner notes for the CD and vinyl by Steve Johnson Layout by Josh Collins license all rights reserved