Arborea

Since 2005, Maine based wife and husband Avant Folk duo Shanti and Buck Curran have released 5 albums, curated two various artist compilations ('Leaves of Life' and 'We Are All One, In the Sun': a tribute to Robbie Basho), and performed throughout the US, UK, and Europe...including sessions on the BBC, NPR, WNYC, and WXPN. Arborea's 4th album 'Red Planet' was released in 2011 and received critical praise; making Rolling Stone 'Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011'', 'Editors Top Pick' Guitar Player Magazine, 'Top Vinyl Pick' Mojo Magazine, Uncut Magazine 'Top 100 Albums of 2011', and Portland Phoenix 'Top Ten Albums of 2011'. Arborea's 5th album 'Fortress of the Sun' was released April 29th, 2013 on Esp-Disk' coinciding with the label's 50th Anniversary and made AllMusic's 'Favorite Folk Albums of 2013', Acoustic Guitar Magazine's 'Best Acoustic Albums of 2013', Echoes 'Best of 2013' Listener Poll, Portland Phoenix 'Top Ten Albums of 2013', and textura's 'Top Ten Albums of 2013'. NPR's Bob Boilen, Host of All Songs Considered, recently described their music…”I discovered Arborea amid a sea of 1,300 songs that I heard in preparation for South by Southwest. The music stood out for its calm beauty, its rough edges, and the duo's ability to speak eloquently of life's precious moments, about the sea, and about wonder. I first heard the duo perform at St. David's Bethel Hall in Austin during this year's South by Southwest music festival. That gorgeous church was the best imaginable place to hear this music, short of a visit to the couple's cabin in the western mountains of Maine. It's always special to hear musicians play to the space they're in. The Currans are not only superb players, and Shanti Curran a lovely singer, but, as this Tiny Desk Concert indicates, they're equally good listeners — always in tune with their surroundings." Discography 2013 'Fortress of the Sun' - ESP-Disk' 2011 'Red Planet' - Strange Attractors Audio House 2011 Vinyl Release 'We Are All One, In the Sun' - alt Vinyl 2010 'We Are All One, In The Sun': A Tribute to Robbie Basho - Important Records 2009 'House of Sticks' - Borne!/Darla Records 2009 'Leaves of Life' - Borne!/Darla Records 2008 'Arborea S/T' - Fire Museum Records 2007 digital release 'Wayfaring Summer' 2006 ‘Wayfaring Summer’ released - Summer Street Records Select Press Quotes "Buck and Shanti Curran's fifth LP of spellbinding psych folk feels both stronger and frailer than 2011's 'Red Planet', the golden production highlighting the fever-storms and dark sadness in these deep, powerful songs." 4 Stars AM-Mojo Magazine This husband-and-wife duo plays a trance-folk that, at every turn in the slipstream, seems to hail from another country: the murder ballads of Appalachia; the plucked-string stasis and Om drone of New York minimalism; the iridescent-Middle East imagination of the Incredible String Band. Singer Shanti and guitarist Buck Curran take Tim Buckley's "Phantasmagoria in Two" at a compelling near-standstill pace; their own "Wolves" is a long circular hush streaked with crying fuzz. Another primary instrument here: the soft oceans of reverb that cushion every minute of this stark and tender balladry. David Fricke - Rolling Stone "A gorgeous voice floating ever-so-light above an exquisite bed of instrumental texture; a mysterious and ethereal world of music that really draws me in...That's Arborea. And that's just the way I like my music." ~ Gene Shay, WXPN/Folk Alley/The Village on XM Satellite Radio "Husband and wife team, Buck and Shanti Curran, construct a fragile, resonant world with a lingering Americana after-taste, shimmering with the same wide-open spaces Ry Cooder’s captured so well on Paris, Texas." ~Sid Smith - BBC "Maine folk duo Arborea creates timeless music" - Dirty Linen Magazine "Shanti and Buck Curran get it right, with memorable songs that linger in the ether long after the last track ends." - NPR "Arborea's brand of folk music is ethereal, bone-chilling, and beautiful all at once!" - Performing Songwriter Magazine "A Magical Mystery Tour" - Boston Globe "Singularly breathtaking" - Portland Phoenix AllMusic 'Favorite Singer/Songwriter Albums of 2013' https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/fortress-of-the-sun/id635132811