Litany of Echoes is a truly apt title for the seventh album of London’s 12-string guitar and piano virtuoso James Blackshaw — he innovatively explores approximating the sounds of repetitive pulsing reverberations and minimalist drones contrasted with an intricate arpeggio picking style in the spirit of Robbie Basho or John Fahey. Blackshaw’s instrumental folk compositions branch out toward new age influences and the subtly progressive leanings of ambient Krautrock artists like Popol Vuh, as well as the spare classical phrasings and tonal reiterations of Steve Reich. Along with guitar and piano, Blackshaw utilizes Fran Bury’s elongated harmonics on violin and viola to accompany his piano parts for the opening “Gate of Ivory” and the closing “Gate of Horn.” The epic “Past Has Not Passed” is a 12-minute-and-38-second-long magnum opus with onioned layers of Bury’s stringy trills blanketing a soft foundation of earth for Blackshaw to create fantastic worlds of melody upon. Litany of Echoes is a gentle but powerful one-man symphony birthing beautiful musical maelstroms and eye-of-the-storm moments of blissful serenity.