Silmaril

Silmaril is a band that rose with the 60's wave of acoustic, folk-inspired and Incredible String Band/Canterbury folk-inspired songwriting. Comprised of devoutly religious charismatic Pentecostal Catholic consciousness-seekers, they mostly played small shows at coffee houses and Church comprised of Incredible String Band covers and "simple improvisations." The band's leader, Matthew Peregrine, born Jim Boulet, struggled with deep ambivalence regarding his own homosexuality. When he finally came out to his bandmates, the band basically dissolved, leaving a string of canceled Renaissance Faire gigs. Boulet went on to discover the "vibrant gay leather community" of Houston, TX., eventually founding a "gay cowboy band" which would lead him to reunite with former bandmate Sharon Larke.

Named after the power stones of JRR Tolkien's fictional mythology, Silmaril's songs deal with the heroism and sacrifices of the saints and other vaguely mythological and Christian themes. The instrumentation varies but is mostly simple, melodic and supportive of the austere and tortured, dark subject matter of the lyrical subtext. Fuzz-drenched guitar, finger-picked acoustic lines, kazoo, sitar, choral vocals that sound sort of like the wind blowing through an old abandoned chapel are all to be found in Silmaril's songs. Like: ISB, Pearls Before Swine, Caravan, etc.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL....

READ MORE