Paul Metzger - "Deliverance"

Paul Metzger - Orans (Locust 2007)

Paul Metzger – Deliverance / Locust

Maybe more than any other modern American instrument, the banjo is subjected to stereotypes; and for most modern/progressive music fans, derogatory stereotypes. Its tinny, twangy sound is almost synonymous with the Appalachian Mountains of the United States, a region that was once revered for its gorgeous landscapes and insular culture. Then came along a little movie by the name of Deliverance in 1972, in which the portrayal of the mountainous Georgia wilderness was, to put it lightly, creepy and disturbing. And maybe the most instantly recognizable scene of the film features a mentally-challenged hillbilly youth named Lonnie whose rendition of “Dueling Banjos” pretty much forever condemned the banjo to be associated with that eerie, uncomfortable setting for most of the movie’s viewers. On top of that singular pop culture event, the instrument is almost unanimously linked to the bluegrass and country genres.

The history of the banjo runs much deeper though. In fact, it is a direct link to Africa’s influence on modern American music. It is believed that its evolution began when African slaves in the American south sought to recreate familiar instruments from their homeland such as the akonting or xalam of West Africa. In the nineteenth century, similar instruments were used in the blackface minstrel shows to represent “slave music”, and Joel Walker Sweeney developed its modern day form in the 1840s when he sought to “remake the banjo into an instrument for the middle class”. Over the next century-and-a-half, the banjo would become more and more associated with the American south with its idiosyncratic sound and eventually be a central characteristic of bluegrass and country genres that developed along side it.

Over the last few decades, the banjo has been utilized more and more in different musical settings, ranging from the European jazz of Django Reinhardt in the 1940s to its increasing use in today’s indie-pop fusions. Minneapolis-based experimental folk artist Paul Metzger is forcing the instrument into brand new directions, both structurally and stylistically. His modified banjo is that of Frankensteinian mutation: the traditional pot-like body stays the same but with twenty-one strings instead of the traditional five and the elongated bridge of a sitar. Stylistically, Metzger rarely plucks in the circular, twangy fingerpicking we are most familiar with this instrument, but plays in an almost modal raga style with heavy influence from Northern India, Eastern Asia, jazz and folk. It’s a sound that echoes of Reinhardt, Sandy Bull and Henry Flynt, but remains insular and idiosyncratic due to the singular nature of his instrument of choice.

The banjo’s stereotypes are not lost on Metzger as he chose to call his first full-length for Locust, Deliverance, perhaps with a bit of a snicker and a soft roll of the eyes. Consisting of three tracks in a nearly sixty minute set, the album features real time performances of Metzger solely on his modified banjo. The opening number, “Orans”, is both the strongest of the three songs and the most accessible. Leaning heavily towards the raga side of Metzger’s sound, he patiently swirls the styles of Bull, Ravi Shankar, Gabor Szabo and Robbie Basho into a spellbinding fifteen-minute workout. Metzger’s banjo features a much heavier low end than the traditional sound of the instrument and leads the song with a lyrical bass line ornamented with flourishes of the tinny high end. With increasing urgency as the track proceeds, he patiently builds the song’s momentum before the last three minutes’ onslaught of speed-picking up and down the raga’s scale creating cascades of metallic tones that reminisce of the sitar but with more of an unsettling nature.

The ten-minute “Bright Red Stone” follows. This time leading with higher pitches, Metzger’s banjo sounds a bit closer to what you would expect from the instrument, but he rarely settles into any kind of countrified groove. The lyrical picking of Fahey is there as well as a modal jazz feel as he experiments with different approaches to playing a scale, all the while lined with a pulsing redundant strum that keeps the music from meandering. Finally, the title track runs for a whopping thirty-minutes. It opens with Metzger bowing his banjo creating an odd, aching Eastern sound that you might expect on an early 70s Pharoah Sanders release. With much less urgency than the prior two tracks, Metzger patiently feels out the tune, somehow connecting the Appalachian Mountains to Northern India and Far East Asia. It may be tolling for listeners with less of an attention span, but rewards in its curious fusion of styles and hypnotizing, almost soothing aura.

Like most Locust releases, Deliverance is for music fans that want to furrow their brow while listening to music. With the quickly crowding school of post-Fahey guitar players these days, Metzger is a welcomed departure as he looks to expand the reaches of Fahey’s country ragas not only with a completely singular instrument in his modified banjo, but in his approach to a more modal style of playing. This is music to lay back and ponder over. It can at times hypnotize and even lull, but there is so much curiosity to the sound, it rarely loses your attention.

Curious exactly what Metzger looks like in action?