Bile Bear - Bear Bile (2022) Hi-Res

Bile Bear is the adopted moniker of Italian guitarist Denis Cassiere, a musician who attempts to bridge ways between Africa, the United States and Italy. Although his manifesto drops Fahey’s name early and channels the late American guitarist’s esoteric humour in a dense abstract, his Bile Bear album is a rather lovely thing and far from a tribute to Fahey or other stalwarts of the solo acoustic instrumental genre.

Of course, the influences are there to be heard, as the thumbed bass string of opener Run Bear Run quickly confirms, but Cassiere’s music is rich and interesting enough to be able to handle and stand firm against these references. Second song Marù is a case in point; a shift in pace and mood from the urgency of Run Bear Run, this one uses softly plucked tremolo strings to drive a quite beautiful melody that leads nicely into Butterfly 1541, another piece that is happy to be unassumingly gentle and impeccably played. Think a more laid-back Daniel Bachman tune without the fingerpicks.

Further on, Birds Radif uses string bends and sustained pauses to create a haunting atmosphere around a skeletal guitar part with scattered thumbed notes. Timofei shifts the style back to the easier pacing of Marù, with tremolo strings playing out a lovely melody with hints of melancholy, before Mayas Pt. I-II-III lightens the mood somewhat with an enjoyable, lo-fi, Latin-influenced piece. Clocking in at over seven minutes, this one has a feeling of drawn-out improvisation about it in the first half and a slightly erratic energy that works well over the course of the piece and links effectively with other more maverick songs like Birds Radif. The second half takes on a more structured approach, using a technical guitar refrain to build tension and add weight to the lighter first part.

The final track, Orpheus & Cicadas, uses field recordings to enhance an undulating strummed line, resulting in a beautifully ethereal song. The brushed chords overlaid with droning cicadas give the piece a soporific and meditative feel, which allows the album to end with a sense of calm and quiet that is quite mesmerising. It is my pick of a set of songs with a unique character by a player who is certainly one to watch out for.