Out on Yoga Records, one of our favorite reissue imprints, Scott Seskind’s Selected Works delves into the canon of this essentially unknown folk singer (and photographer). Seskind plays gentle bedroom folk of the highest order: soft-spoken, melodic, and often finger-picked. Devoid of frills, Selected Works conveys true honesty and feeling and longing. Timeless.

Almost totally unheralded singer-songwriter Scott Seskind gets the Yoga Records reissue treatment, and I couldn't be happier. About a year ago I pulled Seskind's sole vinyl release out of the used bin of a Boulder record store, and with its almost Wallace Berman-esque cover art, could immediately suspect it was something special. The first listen didn't dispel that notion one bit; here was an impressively captivating and moving collection of four-tracked bedroom folk of the highest order, with an out-of-time vibe that didn't really snyc with its 1984 recording date. Definitely on the loner-ish end of the folk spectrum, with some aspects of the album harkening back to Skip Spence's iconic Oar, while other moments revealed the urgency of the '80s lo-fi revolution. But most importantly, the songs were just really, really great and managed to remain haunting long past their leaving.

Here, I thought, is an album that needs to be heard by more people, NOW. I asked around amongst some record collecting friends and discovered it was pretty highly rated by a small circle of people in the know, and that it had even managed to garner a mention in the Acid Archives despite its late recording date, and most excitingly that there was talk that the digital reissue label Yoga had managed to track Seskind down and secure the rights his LP, and an even more obscure cassette-only release that I believe was recorded around the same time. So here we have it, the best songs from Seskind's eponymous LP coupled with choice cuts off of his cassette, the latter of which are also excellent if somewhat sketchier and less desolate than what turned up on record, though I particularly love the seemingly Joe Brainard-inspired track "I Remember," which movingly chronicles the exploits of Seskind and one of his best friends. Easily one of the best albums I've heard all year, and I really hope this release garners the listeners it deserves. As far as I can tell, Seskind isn't involved in music much any longer, having seemingly put his attention towards documentary filmmaking and photography, while also working in the health care industry. Only available as a Download.

-Michael Klausman (October 29, 2009)