Haunted House

 Band: Loren Connors, Suzanne Langille, Andrew Burnes, and Neel Murgai; Photographer: Lena Adasheva

BIO

Comprised of avant blues guitarist Loren Connors, vocalist/lyricist Suzanne Langille, avant guitarist Andrew Burnes (of San Agustin) and Neel Murgai (soundtrack for “The Yes Men Fix the World”) on the daf,  Haunted House played at Tonic, the Cooler, Brownies and other NY venues in the late 1990s.  The band released one record, a CD of live recordings called Up In Flames on Erstwhile.  Shortly after, Andrew Burnes moved away and the band came to an end.  After a 10-year hiatus, the band returned to New York for a performance at Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room with only a sound-check as rehearsal.  The band and Northern Spy were immediately behind the idea of recording. It took another nine months of planning before stars and schedules aligned and the band could reconvene. They played again at Issue on April 6, 2011, and a couple days later in the same old factory building they laid down the tracks for Blue Ghost Blues at Seizure’s Palace.

PRESS

““[Connors] is an American original in much the same sense as John Fahey or Jandek, in that hes chosen a classically American form, in this case the blues, and in true pioneer spirit taken it off somewhere else, crossed it with other forms… and shaped it into a uniquely individual vision of the modern American myth… [Connors] has created a singularly expressive and unique musical vocabulary. In short, he still sounds like no one else.  – David Keenan, The Wire

Loren MazzaCane Connors isn’t a cult hero for no reason. His music is awe-inspiring… a one-person gentle tornado, Connors can get deep into human feelings with a single guitar. — Pop Matters

“The blues are more than just a genre born of the Deep South; they are emotion, expression put to music. There’s a sense of openness and regret that remains present despite the continued evolution of the blues that isn’t as palpable in the endless list of genres under which music is classified. The haunting voice of Suzanne Langille carries such weight, ready to dig deep within her soul to tell us a truth we have forgotten.” – Justin Spicer

“…There’s something extraordinarily alien about the blues that all the ‘rootsy’ marketing in the world can’t deny. Loren Connors is one of a handful of musicians helping his audience rediscover that other worldliness, and seldom has he done so with more clarity than here, as single blues phrases are seemingly extended across minutes rather than bars. Langille’s ethereal voice adds to the tension and exoticism, Murgai’s daf perhaps even more so. Meanwhile, Burnes’s guitar is the perfect foil for [Connors].” – Simon Hopkins, Motion Reviews  

“Murgai’s drumming [is] thoughtful and finely honed, full of space for Langille’s measured, unhurried delivery, every gesture meaningful.  - Matt Wuethrich, The Wire

“Of loren’s contemporary-era ensemble work, this unit rates amongst my favorite ; glad to have them back& in fine form.” — Mimaroglu

DISCOGRAPHY

  • Up In Flames (1999) [Erstwhile]
  • Blue Ghost Blues (2011) [Northern-Spy]