"Cam Deas is among the modern caretakers of the Anglo-American acoustic guitar tradition. Descending from Graham, Jansch, Rose, Basho, Fahey and most interestingly perhaps, Derek Bailey, Deas must superficially be compared to James Blackshaw, especially given his use of the twelve string. But this really is a purely superficial categorization, as if Glenn Gould and Jerry Lee Lewis are akin because they are both flamboyant at the piano.

No. While Blackshaw has built a repetoire around cascading arpeggios and repetitive figures echoing classical minimalism, Deas turns a somewhat different way, by and large, with his guitar. His is a style more resonantly atmospheric and when he does move into arpeggiated passages (as in this piece), the attack and tone is different. He uses them to move from one introspective moment, usually encorporating generous acoustic overtones and harmonics that can only be heard when the music is given some space to breathe. When the pace quickens, Deas exhibits raw tension in a way that Blackshaw never does. Rather than cascades, we feel a white water rush of tension. It is not unlike the thunder apparent in punk at it best, but played with care and command of instrument.

The modes Deas tends to work in are those of rich harmonic power, many with Middle Eastern turns and rarely a blue note (distinguishing him from many of the American school). They are there at times of least expectation, and often as harmony rather than a focused pivot.

Deas was born in the late 80s, at a time when widespread interest in acoustic music was virtually non-existent with young listeners. He is fortunate to be at work now, when there is something of a revival-come-Renaissance within his generation and a healthy supply of good record labels wanting to release this type of music. It will be a pleasure to hear this composer and instrumentalist develop. Rather than remove all the mystery from his recordings, I will leave it at this and encourage you to seek him out for yourself, order his records directly, and take it all in. There is more than guitar at work, with sonic scales crafted out of a variety of “instruments,” but in the end it is Deas’ guitar that has the clearest and loudest voice. It at once reflects its past, and paves some new roads worth following."

- Hallock Hill

Cam Deas is a Sheffield-based guitarist who cites the likes of John Fahey and Robbie Basho as influences, but – intriguingly – also Derek Bailey. The first side of this LP is taken up with a twenty-minute Takoma school twelve string exposition entitled “The Waters Of Kvaloya”; slowly and studiously Deas builds and releases huge waves of tension, working in raga-like phrases as he goes, much earthier and rawer than fellow disciple James Blackshaw. The excellent title track on the reverse shows off the more experimental side. Deas plucks flintily and economically, sending strange, clipped, Bailey-esque phrases out amongst a crackling electronic hum. This side is rounded off with a previously released piece, entitled “As Spring Fell From The Leaves“, which features some devastating, fast and urgent fingerpicking.

- mapsadaisical


Have no doubt when Cam Deas tells you that his guitar is alive and singing.
While the comparisons to James Blackshaw are numerous and admirable, they miss the mark. But only by a little bit. Granted, they both play a lot of that fancy 12 string. But Deas plays his guitar with such raw urgency and crisp production. Not really as lush as Blackshaw, it's playing that is hard to define.
Deas will spend nearly 10 minutes on the opening track luring you into a quiet and beautiful world before he really unleashes the picking attack on his guitar. A fantastic piece spanning nearly 20 minutes. The other two pieces are equally compelling in originality and passion.
This CDr has three pieces.
1. The Waters of Kval0ya
2. My Guitar is Alive and It's Singing
3. As Spring Fell From the Leaves
A prolific artist, he has put out a dozen works. Check his MySpace site for what is available now. He tends to sell a lot of his music on vinyl. So you need a turntable or to look close for the CDr releases. That's what I picked up, a simple digipak with cover art by Jake Blanchard. If you hear something you like you better grab it quick because most of it is printed in very small runs.

- Delta-Slider

Cam Deas has released some top records on Blackest Rainbow, Dirty Demos, Dead Pilot etc. and here's his newie on The Great Pop Supplement. It's a 7" which is limited 300 copies only all hand numbered in an art booklet style 7" foldover sleeve thing (looks lovely!) It's quite different to his previous releases. Yeah he's still playing a guitar but it's more more raw and primal sounding. It starts off reasonably sedate with some tuneful yet discordantly brooding slow playing before it goes all nuts and mental in the middle. Almost knocked me off me chair it did. It's a while since I've heard that much passion on a record. It doesn't sound like it but it really really reminds of the passion you'd get in traditional flamenco which if you've ever seen a proper non touristy flamenco performance I'm sure you'll have been moved to some sort of goose pimpled state. This is some powerful intense shit and it's one of the best 'one man and his guitar' performances I've heard in ages. Untitled 1 and 2 is spread across 2 sides of a 7" and if you're into that whole Fahey, Basho, Jack Rose thing you'll poop your pants when the needle hits the record. Breathtaking!

- Norman Records