Remember by Yair Yona

"Sitting in a bar in Jerusalem, I heard an album playing by a musician called Yair Yona. It was quietly mesmerizing; full of intricate guitar picking and beautiful melodies. It called to mind the guitar experiments and compositions of John Fahey, Ry Cooder and Tom Verlaine's 2006 instrumental effort Around." - Larry Ryan, The Independent

"….With a fluid style and simple touches of sadness trickling from his fingertips…his songs begin to work out rhythmic landscapes that stretch and tumble just perfectly." - Raven Sings the Blues

"Yair is fantastic… (Remember) is one of my favorite guitar records of the year. Production-wise, it's very ambitious, and quite smart, and in terms of both composition and technique, there are two or three tracks that I think are as good as anything ever done on the guitar. Obviously his album wouldn't exist without his influences… but it rises above being merely derivative into something beautiful and, occasionally, even sublime." - Glenn Jones

Israel isn't exactly known as a hotbed for acoustic steel-string guitar music, but guitarist/instrumentalist and all-around sonic ambassador Yair Yona seems determined to change all of that. From his headquarters in Tel Aviv, where he also runs the fabulous Anova Music label and Small Town Romance blog, Yona is composing some of the most genre-bending music for solo steel-string heard since Sandy Bull opened up all the possibilities around the idiom in the 60's. As a musician, Yona's story isn't terribly different than that of many guitarists who have experienced life-altering epiphanies upon hearing Bert Jansch for the first time. Instead of turning his back completely on rock and the cornucopia of sounds which swelled in his head, his musical trajectory placed the acoustic center stage for a wide panorama of musical styles and textures to envelop. Remember, Yona's astonishing debut solo album, is a celebration of the Takoma Records school coarsely filtered through a multi-hued prism of sound, resulting in an intelligent collection of compositions delivered in a fully-formed and strikingly singular voice.

Originally issued in 2009 on Anova, Remember received rave rumblings from the grassroots steel string blogs and fan sites, finding its way into the circle of steel-string heads. Reissued via our Resurrection Series, Remember is a fabulous and strikingly mature take on American and British guitar styles, updated with well-placed indie and post-rock flourishes and touches of Eastern European folk music. Yair Yona's playing is fabulous throughout, utilizing alternate tunings, syncopations, and an immense compositional instinct to lead a Fahey-type acoustic sound across a smartly placed landscape of electronics, banjo, bass guitar and strings. Tunes range in reference from Robbie Basho to Jack Rose and even Godspeed You! Black Emperor, comprising a truly ambitious yet highly accessible body of work. Remember is a gorgeous work by a young guitarist distinguishing himself as one of the most vital members of the solo acoustic revival movement.

Strange Attractors Resurrection Series, Vol. 7. Re-released in direct collaboration with Anova Music.
Everything you need to know/hear/see about the album can be found at Rememberthealbum.com.

Tracklist

1.	Remember	3:02

2.	Are You Smarter Than a 35 Year Old TV Host?	5:47

3.	Russian Dance	5:28

4.	Pharaoh	4:24

5.	Struggled So Hard	3:38

6.	Floodgate Opens to Allow a Ship to Come Through (As It Carries the Passenger Fahey On It)	5:53

7.	Broken Rockin' Chair	1:14

8.	Brave Walls	3:24

9.	Sympathy For The Jack	3:15

10.	Skinny Fists	7:53

Credits

released August 24, 2010

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