Acadia

Yasmin Williams’ Nonesuch Records debut features the acoustic fingerstyle/lap-tapping guitarist in a variety of solo and ensemble settings across nine original, mostly instrumental, songs. In addition to guitar, Williams plays banjo, calabash drum, kora and tap shoes accompanied by acoustic scene luminaries including Aoife O’Donovan (‘Dawning’), Dom Flemons (‘Cliffwalk’) and Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves (‘Hummingbird’). On ‘Harvest,’ fellow female lap-tapper and progressive fingerstyle picker Kaki King and multi-instrumentalist Darian Donovan Thomas on fiddle join with Williams to create a beautifully shimmering, sweetly propulsive number. ‘Virga’ features superb instrumental support and exquisite vocal harmonising by Darlingside layered with ambient colourations by Nashville-based synthesizer specialist Rich Ruth. Saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins and drummer Marcus Gilmore put a fusion-jazz edge on ‘Malamu’. From jazz to folk, blues to bluegrass, techno to chamber music, Williams draws from an eclectic mix of influences to deliver something wholly and delightfully her own.