matthew mullane: hut variations

Among the more revelatory contemporary guitarists, Mullane's new album is a further progression in terms of technique, composition and performance. With a deeply personal signature style, fans have been anxiously awaiting his return to recording after sharing stages with artists like Bill Orcutt, Steve Gunn, William Tyler, Glenn Jones, Mark McGuire and many others. Hut Variations is available in an edition of 500 copies with a heavy stock, spot-gloss jacket. 'The titular interest in 'Huts' is an outgrowth of my thoughts on solo instrument playing and its relationship to the conflicted spatial and social impacts of separation, of the 'one' with the 'whole.' I came to this (after many years of playing 'guitar soli' with little conceptual undergirding) in reading so-called 'hermit' poetry alongside more recent theories of huts, capsules, bubbles and a plethora of other 'single occupancy' spaces. Living and playing guitar in variously isolated modes, I was attracted to the conflicts of productive separation and incorporated them into my playing. The idea has followed me and has inflected much of my recorded output. This new album, Hut Variations, is the result of four years worth of composition and recording. Each piece written and recorded in a different location, a different 'hut.'' --Matthew Mullane