Acoustic Textures by David Birchall

This was orginally a zine with half an hour of acoustic guitar improvisations on CDr 100 copies released in 2012.

Some reviews:
“Hidden gem of the week: the Manchester improvising guitarist David Birchall, whose one-take directly-recorded improvisations are splendidly presented on his Acoustic Textures (BLACK CAT PRESS 002) collection. Birchall is of the school of those who insert objects into acoustic instruments, building on the prepared piano notion, but his technique is to play the inserted objects as much as he plays the guitar, allowing the soundboard to act as a natural amplifier for his multiple – erm – interpolations…what I enjoy is the spirited bounce and snap of his playing attack, suggesting strongly he’s not one of these self-satisfied aesthetes who invite us to admire the sumptuous resonances of their vibrating bowls or shimmering saucepans used as percussion. He does seem to be more about the physical sound he creates, rather than a muso improviser indulging their over-crafted technique. Visual representations of the objects used in this performance are provided in the mini art booklet, where Birchall has co-opted Max Ernst’s frottage technique to generate strong monochrome images. Excellent."
http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2013/05/25/play-as-parable/

"Et le voici cette fois à la guitare acoustique, dans un set solo de guitare acoustique préparée. Sept pièces, 33 minutes. Il y a de très belles choses ici, des sonorités nouvelles, bien maîtrisées, qui donnent le goût de le voir en action, de savoir comment il s’y prend. Plus remarquable que le disque en trio.
And here he is at the acoustic guitar, in a solo prepared guitar set. Seven tracks, 33 minutes. Some beautiful stuff going on here, novel sonorities, well mastered. This record’s best feature is the fact it makes you want to see him play live, to see how he does it."
http://blog.monsieurdelire.com/2012/11/2012-11-29-moskus-1982-bj-cole.html

“On his solo CD Birchall plays acoustic guitar with objects on the strings. The objects are also shown, as drawings, in the enclosed booklet. All of this was recorded straight to tape, although I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a variety of microphones have been used here. Sometimes it sounds close by and sometimes far away. I think he uses spoons, pieces of wood, round objects, saucers maybe, that dance around and do all sort of weird things. All along Birchall plays the strings and does that in a nervous hectic way, certainly in ‘Play As Parable’ and the tracks that follow after that – roughly the second half of the release. Quite a blast, but a very nice one. Totally crazy, wild playing.”
Read more: http://modisti.com/12/2012/09/05/vital-weekly-846/#ixzz25j5InlCB

I am a musician living in Manchester.

I improvise live and compose recordings in the studio.

I organise performances with Curious Ear.

davidbirchall.neocities.org