We love traditional folk and country music but when something comes along that puts a twist on the old and adds new textures, moods and flavours then we’re immediately drawn to their fire.

Chris Portka does just that on this new single “A Candle Is A Raging Fire!” With the parched and emotive harmonica that ushers the song out of the speakers, to the minimal percussion and the way it hangs heavy in the air at its mid-point before taking a breath, steadying itself and then setting off again, complete with overlapping sounds and a hypnotic flutter and sway. It’s both widescreen and intimate, a swirling miasma of poetry and a hallucinatory sonic soundscape.

Chris Portka is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has been making music for two decades. He has spent most of his life in California, and most of the 2000’s in the San Francisco Bay Area. He describes his music as being reflective of the East Bay’s beautifully ragged aesthetic.

As he explains, “the lyrics of the song are about this candle – the hope, dream, and wish which I’ve always held for a life in music. I hope it also reflects the secret desires we hold in our hearts for what we truly want in this life.”

The track reminds us of Sparklehorse, Silver Jews, Califone and others. Textural, gothic Americana at its finest.