Since 2005, Maine based wife and husband Avant Folk duo Shanti and Buck Curran have released 5 albums, curated two various artist compilations ('Leaves of Life' and 'We Are All One, In the Sun': a tribute to Robbie Basho), and performed throughout the US, UK, and Europe...including sessions on the BBC, NPR, WNYC, and WXPN. Arborea's 4th album 'Red Planet' was released in 2011 and received critical praise; making Rolling Stone 'Best Under-the-Radar Albums of 2011'', 'Editors Top Pick' Guitar Player Magazine, 'Top Vinyl Pick' Mojo Magazine, Uncut Magazine 'Top 100 Albums of 2011', and Portland Phoenix 'Top Ten Albums of 2011'. Arborea's 5th album 'Fortress of the Sun' was released April 29th, 2013 on Esp-Disk' coinciding with the label's 50th Anniversary and made AllMusic 'Favorite Folk Albums of 2013', AllMusic 'Favorite Singer/Songwriter Albums of 2013', Acoustic Guitar Magazine's 'Best Acoustic Albums of 2013', and Best Of Echoes 2013 Listener Poll. _________________________________________________________________________ This husband-and-wife duo plays a trance-folk that, at every turn in the slipstream, seems to hail from another country: the murder ballads of Appalachia; the plucked-string stasis and Om drone of New York minimalism; the iridescent-Middle East imagination of the Incredible String Band. Singer Shanti and guitarist Buck Curran take Tim Buckley's "Phantasmagoria in Two" at a compelling near-standstill pace; their own "Wolves" is a long circular hush streaked with crying fuzz. Another primary instrument here: the soft oceans of reverb that cushion every minute of this stark and tender balladry. David Fricke - Rolling Stone _________________________________________________________________________ ”I discovered Arborea amid a sea of 1,300 songs that I heard in preparation for South by Southwest. The music stood out for its calm beauty, its rough edges, and the duo's ability to speak eloquently of life's precious moments, about the sea, and about wonder. I first heard the duo perform at St. David's Bethel Hall in Austin during this year's South by Southwest music festival. That gorgeous church was the best imaginable place to hear this music, short of a visit to the couple's cabin in the western mountains of Maine. It's always special to hear musicians play to the space they're in. The Currans are not only superb players, and Shanti Curran a lovely singer, but, as this Tiny Desk Concert indicates, they're equally good listeners — always in tune with their surroundings." Bob Boilen - NPR __________________________________________________________________________ If you could take a shiver and slow it down so that it lasted for 50 minutes, you'd have Red Planet, the fourth album from Arborea. It's folk music that runs through your veins ice cold, but in a way that's so compelling and irresistible you can't help be moved by it. Red Planet is released by Portland label Strange Attractors Audio House, but Arborea actually hail from a spot much closer to the other Portland; the husband-and-wife duo of Shanti and Buck Curran live in Maine, a state of rugged beauty, endless forests, summertime bugs the size of hummingbirds, and a cold and rocky coastline. Shanti's voice rises above sparse instrumental backing like a cool fog, and while the pair has earned comparisons to acts like Pentangle and Alela Diane, to me Arborea sounds utterly unique and entirely captivating. Ned Lannamann - Portland Mercury, October 2011 __________________________________________________ Far removed from indie rock buzz bands, the folk duo Arborea have never seemed in a rush, but their fourth album, Red Planet, finds them more patient than ever, building music around their own slowly churning clockworks. Self-recording and self-producing again, largely in a cabin on a lake in Maine, Shanti and Buck Curran continue to expand their palette in subtly assertive ways. Clocking in at over 50 minutes, Red Planet is not only the longest Arborea outing yet, but -- in quiet ways -- also possesses the largest scope. The nine-and-a-half-minute "Wolves" gives the band its most sustained canvas yet, Shanti's voice doubled gently over frequent guest Helena Espvall's now familiar cello and Buck's pedal tones. The long tracks, and further use of Shanti's harmonium -- introduced on 2008's House of Sticks -- make for more slowly unfolding pieces than ever. More than ever, though, Shanti's vocals find their sources in traditional motifs and melodies, making for Arborea's most attractive batch of songs yet. "Black Is the Colour" builds on the familiar Celtic folk song, while "Careless Love" attaches itself with ghostly allusion to the blues song first recorded by Lonnie Johnson. Their cover of Tim Buckley's "Phantasmagoria in Two" finds a static peace until dramatically relieved by short electric guitar phrases and a buried tapestry of fine stringwork from Buck. "Spain," meanwhile, presents something more earthbound, of verses and refrains, though no less elegant. Since 2005 Maine based Alt Folk duo Arborea (wife and husband Shanti and Buck Curran) has released 4 cds, performed shows and festivals in the US, UK, and Europe...including a session for the BBC World on 3 program in London in 2009. Jesse Jarnow - All Music Guide