RVNG Intl. has announced the latest in their ever-expanding FRKWYS series which brings together an artist from the past with a contemporary avant-garde act, previously uniting Sun Araw and M Geddes Gengras for their collaboration with legendary reggae act The Congos for the fantastic 2012 album Icon Give Thank.
Now the label has guitarist Steve Gunn, a solo artist and occasional member of Kurt Vile’s backing group, together with Mike Cooper, an avant-folk guitar virtuoso. The two guitarists have collaborated on FRKWYS VOL.11: Cantos De Lisboa (cantos being a three-way pun that can mean "songs", "corners" or "chants" in Portuguese) which involved, as the title suggests, the artists meeting in Lisbon and "sharing their vision over lengthy living room guitar sessions and evenings of cold wine in Fado taverns", culminating in "an album with variable vernacular shades and musical forms from Portugal’s antiquity", most notably the aforementioned fado, a form of Portuguese guitar music that originated in 19th century Lisbon.
This new relesae comes as the label Paradise Of Bachelors announce re-issues of Cooper’s long out-of-print back catalogue. Cantos De Lisboa will be released on June 24; check out the video for ‘Saudade do Santos-o-Velho’ above.
