Arborea (band)

Arborea
Arborea band portrait
Background information
Origin	Maine, United States
Genres	Psych Folk, Indie Rock, Indie Folk, New Weird America
Years active	2005 – present
Members
Shanti Curran Buck Curran
Notable instruments
OME Banjo, Ban-Jammer, Sobell Guitar

Arborea is an American musical duo combining elements of Acoustic, Folk , Blues, World Music, and Rock. Their music is associated with the Indie Folk, Psych Folk, Indie Rock, and New Weird America genres. Arborea consists of wife and husband team Shanti Curran and Buck Curran. Shanti Curran provides lead vocals, banjo (she is also an official endorser of OME banjos), Ban-Jammer (a type of Banjo dulcimer made by Tennessee luthier Mike Clemmer), harmonium, ukulele, sawing fiddle, and hammered dulcimer and Buck Curran provides, vocals, guitar, slide guitar and sawing fiddle. They both share songwriting duties, arrangements, and production. Arborea base themselves in Maine and derive a lot of the inspiration for their music from the rugged, beautiful land and seascapes of their home state, and even record some of their music in an old family cabin that Shanti’s great grandfather built during the Great Depression that is nestled along the Western Mountains of Maine.

History

The band has performed with artists such as Glenn Jones, Meg Baird, Fern Knight, and Vetiver, and was part of the lineup of the Portland, Maine based festival ‘Time of Rivers’ in both 2007 and 2008. On November 26 of 2007 Arborea traveled to New York City to record a session and interview for WNYC's Spinning On Air Program, with host David Garland. The session was first aired in January 2008, and re-aired on November 2, 2008. The duo has also performed internationally at the Green Man Festival in Wales in 2007, and The Tanned Tin Festival in Spain in November 2007. In December 2008 they spent 18 days touring in Portugal, Spain (appearing on the Islas de Robinson program 169, December 9, 2008 on the Spanish National Radio, RTVE), Switzerland, and Italy. On May 20 of 2009 Arborea traveled to London to do a session and interview for the BBC 'World on 3' program with host Mary Ann Kennedy, which aired on June 7, 2009. They have received critical acclaim from NPR producer Robin Hilton, who described their music as ‘memorable’ and their second release as ‘an incredibly spare and beautiful collection of songs’, and Shanti’s voice as ‘hypnotically beautiful’. They were also part of a feature article on New Psych Folk in the August/September 2007 issue of Dirty Linen Magazine, where writer Lahri Bond described their music as 'Timeless' and 'Haunted by Deep Shadows', as well as receiving favorable reviews from the Boston Globe, the 2008 issue of Dream Magazine, in which publisher George Parsons stated that their first release Wayfaring Summer was 'easily one of the best debut albums I've heard in many moons', and the British music magazine The Wire. In 2008 the duo was interviewed for both a Terrascope Online feature article, and the July/Aug 2008 issue of Italy’s Blow Up magazine. To date the band has released three full length albums; their debut Wayfaring Summer released at the end of 2006, the second is their Self-Titled 2008 release on Fire Museum Records...limited to 500 copies and 'Sold Out' within the first year of pressing, and their latest record is a collection of singles titled House of Sticks released on the Borne! Recordings, a sub-label of the Spanish label Acuarela Discos which is exclusively distributed in the United States by Darla Records. In June 2009 House of Sticks received a glowing review from the BBC. Arborea has also curated a compilation record to help with important relief efforts in Africa to which all the proceeds will go to the UN World Food Program and Not On Our Watch agencies. The compilation titled Leaves of Life released June 23, 2009 on Borne! Recordings, includes notable artists such as Alela Diane, Devendra Banhart, and Marissa Nadler. The artwork for Leaves of Life was created by musician and artist Hanna Tuulikki. In 2010 Important Records released We Are All One, In the Sun: A tribute to Robbie Basho, a compilation cd that was created and produced by Buck Curran of Arborea. We Are All One, In The Sun features artists Meg Baird, Helena Espvall, Arborea, Steffen Basho Junghans, Glenn Jones, Fern Knight, Cian Nugent, and Grammy nominated Iraqi born Oud master Rahim Alhaj. The tribute made Acoustic Guitar Magazine's list of the Best Acoustic Albums of 2010, Top Editors pick for the December issue of Guitar Player Magazine, Mojo 4 Stars, as well as glowing reviews in The Wire magazine, and Pitchfork. In January and February of 2010 the duo toured in France, Spain, and Italy. While in Spain they performed at the Principal Theatre in Castellon as part of the Tanned Tin Festival. In March and April of they did a tour from Maine to California which included a SXSW showcase at St David's Church/Bethel Hall. Arborea toured the UK and Ireland in August and September of 2010 and that tour included performances at the Moseley Folk Festival in England and Body & Soul/Electric Picnic Festival in Ireland. Arborea's fourth album Red Planet was released on April 26 by the Oregon based label Strange Attractors Audio House. Red Planet received critical praise throughout 2011 which included 'Top Vinyl Pick' in the September 2011 issue of Mojo Magazine, 'Editors Top Pick' in the December 2011 issue of Guitar Player Magazine, and Rolling Stone 'Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011' as listed by senior writer David Fricke. Arborea toured in Spain, Portugal, England, Ireland, and Scotland in May and June of 2011 which included performances at the Body & Soul Summer Solstice Festival in Ireland, Serralves Festival in Portugal, Gea Festival in Spain. They also did two Cinemascore concerts in Spain reinterpetting the soundtrack to the Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man for a live audience while the film was shown in Spanish subtitles. In the Summer of 2011 Arborea went on an extensive US cross country tour in support of Red Planet which began in Philadelphia at the end of August and took them to Virgnia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Chicago, Iowa, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, and California. While in California they played shows in Arcata, San Francisco, Marin Headlands, Santa Cruz, Big Sur, and Los Angeles at the end of October. The final performance on the tour was at State College in Pennsylvania on November 5th. While on tour Arborea performed at the Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, North Carolina on September 8th, as part of the Artist and Author Series curated by the Independent Weekly Music Editor Grayson Currin.

Discography

• Wayfaring Summer (2006), Summer Street Records
• Arborea self-titled (2008), Fire Museum Records
• House of Sticks (2009), Borne!/Darla
• Leaves of Life (2009), Compilation to benefit the World Food Program)Borne!/Darla
• Beyond the Pale (2009), Sideways Through Sound curated compilation, Australia
• "We Are All One, In The Sun: A Tribute To Robbie Basho" (2010), Important Records
• "Red Planet" (2011), Strange Attractors Audio House
• Little Darla has a treat for you, v.27: Eternal Spring edition (2009), Various Artists/Darla Records
• TEA-1 Compilation Cd (2007), Terrascope Online (UK)
• Digital version of Wayfaring Summer released in October 2007. Available through Apple iTunes, Rhapsody.
• Digital version of Arborea 'Self-Titled' released in June 2008. Available through Apple iTunes, Rhapsody, etc.

External links and further sources

• Official website
• Strange Attractors Audio House
• Rolling Stone 'Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011'
• Arborea biography All Music Guide
• Arborea 'Red Planet' review All Music Guide
• Arborea on 'World Cafe: Next': NPR
• Darla Records – Arborea page
• Fire Museum Records – Arborea page
• Green Man Festival 2007
• OME Banjo Gallery of Artists
• Arborea – 'Further Folk' The Village Voice
• Terrascope Online (UK) Arborea Feature
• Arborea Feature 'The Independent'
• WNYC Spinning On Air program Arborea performance
• Paste Magazine – Leaves of Life compilation
• Pitchfork – Leaves of Life benefit compilation
• Pitchfork – We Are All, One In The Sun: A Tribute To Robbie Basho record review
• Folk Radio UK Review of Red Planet plus Philadelphia ‘Sun Room’ Sessions
• Folk Radio UK: Guest mix by Arborea