The Books

Found-sound collectors are a unique subset of audio obsessives whose primary interest lies in one-off amateur recordings and bits of non-musical ephemera. The Books certainly fall into this category--in a 2005 interview for Time Out New York, Nick Zammuto claimed that he and creative partner Paul de Jong first bonded over a recording by obscurantist hero Shooby Taylor, aka "The Human Horn"--but a warmhearted sense of humanity permeates their work, keeping it from sounding insular or arch. In the typical Books song, carefully-edited segments from the duo's found-sound archives are perfectly matched to semi-electronic musical soundscapes built on de Jong's cello and Zammuto's acoustic guitar, and the two disparate elements function as a smoothly integrated whole. The duo's occasional songs featuring Zammuto's own breathy vocals suggest a fondness for Nick Drake, whose "Cello Song" they covered in collaboration with Jose Gonzalez on the benefit compilation Dark Was the Night.  After forming in New York in 1999, the duo resettled in the arts mecca of North Adams, Massachusetts and released three albums on the German experimental label Tomlab between 2002 and 2005, as well as a few one-off collaborations like a remix EP of Books material by hip-hop experimentalist Prefuse 73. Following a five-year break, The Books returned with a new album, The Way Out, in 2010.