Biography
In addition to running the Polyamory label with Tovah O’Rourke,
James Toth was the leader of New York-based avant-garde/freak folk
ensemble Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice. Taking the first part
of that name as his own — and occasionally billing himself as “Wooden
Wand Jehovah” — Toth gathered at one point or another O’Rourke (who
also comprised Dead Machines with her husband, Wolf Eyes’ John Olson),
Satya Sai, Glucas Crane, Steven the Harvester, and Heidi Diehl. There
were others, too — the Vanishing Voice lineup shifted as much as its
’ various aliases. The sounds the group made were fluid, too,
incorporating everything from the ’60s mysticism of Donovan and Van
Morrison to free jazz, /p>oise rock, folk raditionals, and
the entire Silt Breeze catalog. Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice
released numerous CD-R and vinyl recordings into the indie
folk/experimental underground during the early 2000s; they were also
responsible for relatively more conventional releases like 2003’s Xiao
(Destijl, later reissued by Troubleman Unlimited), 2004’s Sunset
Sleeves (Weird Forest), and Buck Dharma, issued in September 2005
through 5 Rue Christine. That same year Toth released Harem of the
Sundrum & the Witness Figg simply as Wooden Wand. The recording’s
skeletal folk structures and evocative lyrics garnered quite a bit of
positive press, especially in the wake of Devendra Banhart’s success.
The band released two albums in 2006, Gipsy Freedom and Second
Attention. 2007 saw the release of James and the Quiet, followed in
2009 by Hard Knox, a collection of demo and home recordings under the
moniker Wand.
James Toth was the leader of New York-based avant-garde/freak folk
ensemble Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice. Taking the first part
of that name as his own — and occasionally billing himself as “Wooden
Wand Jehovah” — Toth gathered at one point or another O’Rourke (who
also comprised Dead Machines with her husband, Wolf Eyes’ John Olson),
Satya Sai, Glucas Crane, Steven the Harvester, and Heidi Diehl. There
were others, too — the Vanishing Voice lineup shifted as much as its
’ various aliases. The sounds the group made were fluid, too,
incorporating everything from the ’60s mysticism of Donovan and Van
Morrison to free jazz, /p>oise rock, folk raditionals, and
the entire Silt Breeze catalog. Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice
released numerous CD-R and vinyl recordings into the indie
folk/experimental underground during the early 2000s; they were also
responsible for relatively more conventional releases like 2003’s Xiao
(Destijl, later reissued by Troubleman Unlimited), 2004’s Sunset
Sleeves (Weird Forest), and Buck Dharma, issued in September 2005
through 5 Rue Christine. That same year Toth released Harem of the
Sundrum & the Witness Figg simply as Wooden Wand. The recording’s
skeletal folk structures and evocative lyrics garnered quite a bit of
positive press, especially in the wake of Devendra Banhart’s success.
The band released two albums in 2006, Gipsy Freedom and Second
Attention. 2007 saw the release of James and the Quiet, followed in
2009 by Hard Knox, a collection of demo and home recordings under the
moniker Wand.
