FURSAXA OFFICIAL WEBSITE / FURSAXA ON MYSPACE

Alone in the Dark Wood is the fifth full-length release from West Philly-based solo artist TAra Burke aka Fursaxa who boasts a fan base with the likes of Bardo Pond, Acid Mothers Temple and Thurston Moore who released a record by her on his Ecstatic Peace! imprint. A previous member of the band UN, Burke is now one of the epicentres and key collaborators of the North American free-folk movement, along with such luminaries as Jack Rose, Charalambides, Ben Chasny and the Jewelled Antler Collective. With her hypnotic, echo-y churchbell chanting, Burke possesses a power-filled vocal sound that harkens back not only to those other polar queens of disaffected freakout psychedelia Nico and Barbara Manning, but she is also akin to and inspired by Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th-century Benedictine mystical abbess. With the low drone of chord organ and Farfisa, detuned ringing guitar, and endlessly looped, multiply-tracked vocals applied with heaps of delay, Fursaxa sounds like a tripped-out medievalist perched upon a poppy petal. Burke has an alchemical knack for turning folk into lo-fi, and then into sheer psych and back again, but more importantly, her music is pure humming narcosis.

Biography
Fursaxa is TAra Burke. Formerly a member of the Silbreeze band UN, TAra started her Fursaxa project in 1999 after UN disbanded. After being a long time resident of Philadelphia, TAra decided to leave the "city of brotherly love" for the touring life. So from April 2005-April 2006 she toured extensively throughout the UK, the USA, and Europe with friends and fellow musicians Jack Rose, Sharron Kraus, Alexander Tucker, Christina Carter, Marcia Bassett, and the Spires that in the Sunset rise, to name a few. For her live performances she uses mostly looped vocals, flutes, and percussion, a casio keyboard, guitar, and mandolin, in an attempt to transport her audience into the ethereal realms. On her forthcoming album "Alone in the Dark Wood" she employs a myriad of instruments such as mandolin, guitar, violin, banjo, balalaika, organ, bells,, flute, percussion, and voice. This album was recorded and mixed in Finland and Pennsylvania. TAra has recently been collaborating with several other musicians. Espers member Helena Espvall and TAra have a duo called Anahita, and will release "Arcana en Cantos" on the Deserted Village label from Ireland later this year. And solo musician Sharron Kraus and TAra have a duo called Tau Emerald and have plans to release music in 2007. And in September of 2006 Fursaxa was part of "The Valerie Project", which is a live soundtrack for the 1970 Czech film "Valerie and her Week of Wonders". Currently, Fursaxa is playing and recording her music in the rural hills of Pennsylvania

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