Petrifidelity - David Leicht & Raymond Morin

Something there just isn’t enough of in this world…guitar duets! Yes, seriously. And the American Primitive landscape certainly is nearly devoid of such efforts. Sure, then it's not really solo guitar, is it?  But what's solo about a lot of the current efforts on the modern scene?  Yes, the occasional occurrence of a duet is encountered and there have been the odd CD that has more than a few.  But there doesn’t seem to be a lot of effort directed at that sort of development of the current styles, as an extension.

In fact, I hadn’t thought about it much myself until this little gem of a CD arrived in my mail.

David Leicht and Raymond Morin are musical partners and have released “Petrifidelity,” a CD of guitar duets.  And what can only be viewed as bonus material: the guitar TAB to every song in the collection.

Petrifidelity?  What's that?  The word is David Leicht's creation: 

“Petrifidelity is a mash-up of petrified and fidelity.  ...taking turned-to-stone as a literal definition for “petrified” and combining it with “fidelity,” implies sounds that strive to be lasting (I hesitate to say "permanent")."

When asked about duet influences Morin said:

"Yeah, Grossman/Renbourn are a big inspiration, as are Renbourn/Jansch and Crandell/Bartels... not to mention rockers like Television, Love, The Smiths." 

I only came up with the Grossman/Renbourn and Renbourn/Jansch combos, didn't even think of rock influences.  But of course!

How many times have you listened to a CD and thought, wow, I sure would like to learn that piece, but I have no idea where to start? Wouldn’t it be great if all guitarists took the time to tab out their work? Well these guys did. The whole CD is tabbed out, both parts side-by-side so you and your pickin’ buddy can sit down and play a cool duet.

Conveniently each part fits on a single page allowing Morin (who did all the tabbing and the design of the booklet by hand) to place his part on one page and Leicht's on the opposite page. You lay the book open and there's the whole piece, both parts.

Morin and Leicht recorded these cuts "live" in the studio, except for a few critical harmonics they wanted sharp and clear.  All compositions are original by the duo.

As you can hear on the opening track, the guys can write a song that is pretty intricate.  Weaving the parts together.  But they are just as likely to dial it down a notch and let one guitar do the talking while the other slips in tasty augmentations.  As a whole the CD is pretty melodic and doesn't stray into the fields of dissonance. 

We've got a little of everything here, double drop D, open G, open C, standard, DADGAD, capos...you name it!  As for styles...well there is a bit of everything here, as Morin says there is sparse and melodic and of course the British inspiration is there as well.  And the last cut on the disc is a vocal, again a guitar duet as well as a vocal duet.

Copies are very limited and are only available through the Work and Worry site and at the live shows.  If you are in the Pennsylvania area be sure to check for tour dates.