My Resolution is Free, by P Wits

My Resolution is Free

by P Wits

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10" lathe cut record
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Limited edition 10" release of P Wits 'My Resolution is Free'. Lathe cuts by Johnny Electric. Liner notes by Byron Coley with individual numbered collages by P Wits. Screenprinted cover by Lee Richardson. Edition of 30 numbered copies.

Includes unlimited streaming of My Resolution is Free via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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	1.	No/Body 03:29
	2.	Mercy 06:49
	3.	Of Forever 06:52
	4.	The Illusion of Depth* 17:58

about

Listening to 'My Resolution is Free' for the fourth time this afternoon, I began wondering about the etymology of the term “shred”, as applied
to guitar. Most recently, I have heard it used to describe the woefully lame power noodling of AOR dumb fucks like Edward Van Halen, Steven Siro Vai and Lars Lannerbäck (aka Yngwie Malmsteen), all of whom play guitar as though they were over-inflated bags of testosterone gas being blown like the devil’s own ocarina. The only good thing that has come of this whole embarrassing musical trend is the sequence of parodic “shredding” videos created by Finnish genius, Santeri Ojala, whose Youtube videos (released under the StSanders moniker) are hilariously on point.

Originally, however, I believe I heard the term applied to free jazz guitarists like Sonny Sharrock, who used blocks of amped ferocity to create whorls of sound so savage you really felt as though your head was getting sand blasted. A parallel approach to this inside of ostensibly “rock” formatting was provided when Lou Reed released 'Metal Machine Music', an album that still hasn’t gotten the respect it deserves, despite the fact that guitarists who took its ideas seriously have been some of the vanguard players of the last forty years.

Guitarists as diverse as Remko Scha, Thurston Moore, Bruce Russell, Marco Fusinato and Kawabata Makato have all used Reed’s example as a starting point for good “rock” music, with results that will blister the insides of your skull with their brutal beauty.

On 'My Resolution is Free', New Zealand guitarist P Wits takes another step up this particular staircase. Best known for scrambled solo work, and wild collaborations with form-freaks like the late Tom Smith, Ducklingmonster (from the Futurians) and L$D Fundraiser, Wits has also done some delicate acoustic accompaniment with the brilliant NZ chanteuse, Maxine Funke. But on this album, it’s all shredding, in the classic sense.

The four pieces here rise from the depths like glowing pyramids of amp-roar, teetering back and forth in the dark water, shedding electricity like used snakeskin. The pulses of guitar-skronk may ebb and flow, but they are always riveting. There are details to the surface of the sounds that constantly draw you in for a closer inspection. I suspect there are similarities to some of the more avant garde forms of black metal, but don’t quote me. My knowledge of that stuff is vague at best.

But whatever you call it, P Wits’ music here is a massive chunk of abstract architecture that sounds totally great, and deserves your attention. As the Residents once noted back in the ’70s, “Ignorance of your culture is not considered hip.” So don’t be a fucking square. Shred yourself today. You’ll be very glad you did.

Byron Coley

credits

released June 14, 2023

P Wits: Guitars/Tapes/Electronices
* L Xerox: Guitar/Spoons/Electronics

Dedicated to Tom Smith

Copyright Ilam Press Records 2023
Lathe cut records by Johnny Electric
Liner notes by Byron Coley
Cover art by P Wits

Ilam Press Records
c/o School of Fine Arts
University of Canterbury
Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha
Christchurch 8041, NZ

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Ilam Press Records Christchurch, New Zealand

Ilam Press Records is a subsidiary of the Ilam Press; a print publishing workshop at the Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury, NZ.

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