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Pure Night Plus

by John Davis

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Six panel eco pack; 16 page booklet with liner notes by Adam Green of Moldy Peaches and by JD.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pure Night Plus via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      $17 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    I have uncovered a stash of mint condition original pressings of two components of the Pure Night Plus 2xCD reissue - my first single, RIP, DIY, and my first LP, Pure Night. So if you purchase this option you get that 7" EP, 12" LP and the 2xCD reissue. If you already bought the 2xCD reissue or just the digital download, and want to purchase the single and CD at an appropriate discount, send me a message here or on Facebook and I'll send you a discount coupon. You can see pictures of what the reissue package looks like on the listing for the CD on this page.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pure Night Plus via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 750  19 remaining

      $30 USD or more 

     

1.
Pure Night 01:22
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Don't Let It 00:59
8.
Love You I 01:39
9.
Hey Cheeky 01:01
10.
11.
12.
Windy 01:23
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
Blind Love 02:29
18.
River Boat 01:43
19.
20.
Over Nothing 01:54
21.
22.
23.
24.
Yes, You 02:16
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
Baby, baby 04:15
31.
To Do 01:25
32.
33.
Sun St. 02:07
34.
35.
36.
37.
Hot Air 02:38
38.
The News 02:33
39.
Glass 02:48
40.
41.
42.
Leave Home 00:46
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45.
46.
47.
I Hear Bells 00:46
48.
Recall 01:48
49.
50.

about

JOHN DAVIS IN THE MUSEUM OF SONGS by Adam Green

I bought a cassette of John Davis’ “Stars and Songs” at Kim’s Underground Video store in 1995. I was 14 years old and I got it because I liked the homemade quality of the cover. Upon first listen I was completely mesmerized. I realized that John Davis was one of the most original songwriters of his generation, and it wasn’t long before his influence became pervasive in my work with the Moldy Peaches.

I’ve learned that John began his musical life as a drummer in a hardcore punk band in Cambridge, MA. He was exposed to outsider folk and lo-fi music through Daniel Johnston tapes, WHRB radio, and local shows at The Middle East club. In college he started a band with Will Oldham and began a musical correspondence with Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow, with whom he eventually formed the group “The Folk
Implosion.”

It was in lo-fi home recording that John discovered a universe. He seized upon intimacy as his medium, breaking down a barrier between himself and his tape recorder that has really never been matched. A true emotional stuntman, inside Davis is a spirit world where intimacy, violence, and mystical transcendence are one. His mission statement appears in one of his early songs, “there are borders everywhere, cross them.”

Like Skip Spence before him, in harnessing his personal universe John became a unique American visionary genius. The punk turned inward, Davis re-emerged as a shaman. On “Pure Night”, Davis’ dark album of dreams, he becomes our guide as he casts a spell bringing on the night and shows us “a place underground.” Throughout the album, fibrous textures and noises creak and moan as John drags his fingers over a 12 string guitar, exhibiting a painter-like understanding of song language. He hypnotizes us with strange repetitions on the Pixes-like incantation “Love You I” and the winding-melodic “Blind Love.”

One of Davis’ most exceptional songs is “Our World, Brained.” It is a disarming a cappella tune, somehow impenetrable, representing a time-capsule of his soul. When I listen to Davis’ music I get the sense that I am listening to field recordings of an interior landscape. Of this delicate intimacy and introspection he is the undisputed master.

credits

released September 16, 2020

These 50 tracks compile one LP, (Pure Night), two 7" EPs, (RIP DIY and Instress Vol. 1), one cassette, (Stars & Songs,) and 7 bonus tracks, 6 of which are previously unreleased. Recorded between 1988 and 1994. Original releases span from 1993 to 1995. All freshly remastered by Matt Pence of Echo Lab Studios in Denton, Texas. The double CD includes a 16 page booklet inside a 6 panel Eco Pack, featuring original artwork from John and Theo Davis.

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about

John Davis & The Cicadas Durham, North Carolina

John Davis is a musician who works solo, with Folk Implosion, with a backing band called the Cicadas, and with Dennis Callaci. He also works on defending and transforming public education as a teacher - organizer with the Durham Association of Educators. ... more

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