Kath Bloom & Loren Connors - Restless Faithful Desperate
First ever vinyl reissue for landmark 1984 private press folk-psych album by Connecticut duo, Kath Bloom and Loren Conors.
The extraordinary creative partnership of New Haven, Connecticut duo Kath Bloom and Loren Connors, has haunted psych-folk fans ever since the early '80s. Kath taught herself guitar during shifts as a janitor at a New Haven cemetery, while Loren's free-form idiosyncratic style had been developing since the late '60s. Between 1981 and 1984, the duo recorded two live and four studio albums, mostly self-released in tiny quantities. Early on, their music mixed folk and blues traditionals with a handful of Kath's vulnerable, moving originals. By the later albums the songs were all Kath's - her fragile voice and subdued finger-picking set against Loren's abstract, but always supportive, playing. Together the duo created a sound almost impossibly emotional and haunting.
Developing a cult following, Kath's songs have been covered by Bill Callahan, Mark Kozelek, Devendra Banhart, whilst Loren Connors has played with Sonic Youth and others.
Restless Faithful Desperate emerged in 1984, in an edition of 200-300 copies. As her creativity accelerated, Kath's songs became looser and more intuitive, but Restless contains one of her most gorgeously realised compositions, 'Look at Me.' Loren's long-term collaborator Robert Crotty contributes extra guitar on a couple of tracks.
After reissuing four of Kath & Loren's albums on CD in the late 2000s, Chapter Music embarked on the first ever vinyl reissues for these remarkable records, beginning with Restless in 2018, and followed by Sand In My Shoe and Moonlight in 2019.
“Kath Bloom…can snap a heart like a twig” - Pitchfork
“Its beauty is almost baffling” - AV Club
Tracklist:
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Tall Grass
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Hold On
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When I See You
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You Give Me Something
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How We Live
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When Your Dreams Come True
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How It Rains (Instrumental)
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Look At Me
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Just Don’t Tell Me That It’s Gone
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How It Rains
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Wait For My Love
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The Key
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Out In The Woods (Instrumental)
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When I Come Home
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Tell Him
Digital download bonus track:
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Xmas Song
Australian Import; includes download card with digital bonus track