Staid is Stunning in Folk Artist Puzzle Muteson’s Hands

Bedroom Community’s Puzzle Muteson issues a tangled new folk gem, “River Women.”

Photographer Terry Magson
August 13, 2014

FADER PREMIERE

Though Iceland's Bedroom Community label/collective has put their stamp on a whole host of prominent experimental records that favor gnarled, needle-in-the-red noise work (including Ben Frost's stunning 2014 album A U R O R A), the vast majority of their stable tends to favor something a little more staid. Puzzle Muteson, the folk project of Isle of White native Terry Magson, falls mostly in the latter camp. After En Garde, a debut collection of serpentine, string-laden tunes in 2011, Magson returns with news of his second album Theatrics and a straight-laced new single called "River Women."

Other tracks on Theatrics feature the contributions of similarly minded string maestros Nico Muhly and Valgeir Sigurðsson, but "River Women" is a relatively stripped number for Magson. Featuring little more than meandering acoustic guitar lines, rumbling percussion, and his own tremulous voice, Magson recalls a whole lineage of British folkies that includes the likes of Scottish guitar legend Bert Jansch and the drone-y Thrill Jockey signee Alexander Tucker.

Listen below and catch Theatrics when it hits shelves September 29. You can preorder now through Magson's Bandcamp.

Stream: Puzzle Muteson, "River Women"

Posted: August 13, 2014
Staid is Stunning in Folk Artist Puzzle Muteson’s Hands