Luke 2:34: "BEHOLD; He shall stand as a Sign of Contradiction (το σμειον αντιλεγομενον)."

This album was recorded mostly during one inspired weekend in the spring of 2015 at my apartment in Houston. The title comes from a reflection on a relevent passage from Kierkegaard:

"What is meant by a 'sign'? A sign is the denied immediacy or the second being that is different from the first being...that is, a sign is something different from what it immediately is...
...A 'sign of contradiction' is a sign that intrinsically contains a contradiction in itself. There is no contradiction in its being immediately this or that and also a sign, for there must certainly be an immediate entity for it to be a sign; a literal nothing is not a sign either. A sign of contradiction, however, is a sign that contains a contradiction in its composition. A SIGN OF CONTRADICTION IS THAT WHICH DRAWS ATTENTION TO ITSELF AND, ONCE ATTENTION IS DIRECTED TO IT, SHOW ITSELF TO CONTAIN A CONTRADICTION. If something is a sign of contradiction, then it cannot give a direct communication--that is, the statement can be entirely direct, but that the fact that it is involved, that the sign of contradiction says it, makes it indirect communication.
*THUS there is a contradiction that nevertheless makes direct communication indirect, that is, makes direct communication impossible. If there is to be a direct communication that remains a direct communication, one must step out of the incognito; otherwise that which in the first is direct communication (the direct statement) still does not become direct communication through the second (the incognito of the communicator)."

-'Practice in Christianity, No. II"

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"american primitive style picker william csorba, of houston, texas, is very prolific, his latest work 'sign of contradiction' being the third he has sent me in the past year. i respect this level of work ethic, and despite the volume of recordings and constraints of solo acoustic guitar music with no words, william makes a very new album each time he sits down to record.
'sign of contradiction' features his tightest, most silvery playing to date, starting out with epic eleven minute landscape called 'diablo canyon', which is great, and full of twists and turns. this album is a study in long form compositions...each tune tops seven minutes, except the closer, a cover of sam mcgee's 'buck dancer's choice', which is a standard for american primitive players. i recommend this one.
-The Modern Folk Music of America (themodernfolk.net)

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Fellow music-maker Marcus Eads had this to say about this album:

"10 tracks of slow ramblings through big thicket country. Trailing Phlox. Piney woods. Abandoned oil refineries, UFO sightings around Caddo Lake, Nacogdoches nightmares and Dogwood dreams. Awesome."