Nick Castro

Nick Castro is a Los Angeles singer-songwriter, a purveyor of psychedelic folk music who debuted with A Spy In The House Of God (Ghaud, 2004), a set of charming and surreal ballads scored for the eclectic timbres of ouz, harmonium, sax, xylophone, organ, etc. Further From Grace (Strange Attractors, 2005) boasts more elaborate arrangements, while retaining the same poetic quality. There is also a stronger rhythmic undercurrent and denser dynamics in Sun Song, drenched in a violin melody and electronic noises, Unborn Child, with the guitar strummed like a mandolin over sustained organ notes, the instrumental trumpet-driven Waltz for a Little Bird, and the exotic tour de force of eight-minute Deep Deep Sea, with Spanish trumpet and Middle-eastern percussion. The sequencing of the songs on the album alternates this embellished vignettes with more straightforward acoustic compositions such as the gentle Donovan-ian chant of To This Earth and the delicate breeze of Walk Like a Whisper. Frankly, the weakest link in Castro's music is... Castro's voice. The songs are not particularly original (given the huge body of psychedelic folk songs produced since the days of Pearls Before Swine) but they do display an intriguing combination of melody, rhythm and arrangement. Until Castro's plain whisper takes over. Then the "dejavu" element prevails over the "new take on acid folk" element.

Come Into Our House (Strange Attractors, 2006) further increased the exotic element in Castro's chamber orchestra, distancing him from the Incredible String Band (that was the too obvious reference point for the previous album), peaking with the nine-minute Voices from the Mountains.