Brand new vinyl record.

SHIPPING TIME AND RETURN POLICY:

SHIPPING: We ship within 2 business days of payment most of the time (orders place over the weekend won't be processed until the following Monday. We ship via USPS: First Class for CDs, Media Mail for vinyl, and First Class Mail International for overseas orders (orders over 4lb require Priority Mail International). Actual shipping time varies by destination.

RETURNS: We generally do not accept returns except if something is not as described, and we take care to make sure everything fits our description. Sometimes CDs or vinyl will have a "cut-out" slice or "promo punch" either in the corner or through the UPC code - we will include this in the description if applicable. If there is a problem with an item, contact us and we will figure out the best action to take. We do NOT accept returns if you decide you simply don't like the item, or have buyer's remorse - buy wisely, and ask questions if necessary. Damage incurred during shipping should be brought up with the carrier but is extremely rare as we box everything adequately, including using extra cardboard for protection.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMBINING SHIPPING ON MULTIPLE ITEMS WE SELL:

Use "Add To Cart". Before paying, there is a button marked "Ask Seller For A Total" - click this. Wait one business day for us to change the invoice or else it will charge you full shipping for each item (we will not refund extra shipping once paid). This may not work from a phone, only a computer. We have to change shipping by hand - typically we charge what is close to the actual cost with maybe a $1 USD handling fee per item to cover the cost of packing materials.

Item Summary:

Having sold his instruments to fund a nomadic 1970s lifestyle, eccentric Irish experimentalist Michael O'Shea was forced to create his own handmade answer to the sitars and zelochords he'd become accustomed to playing on his travels around the globe.

Using an old door, 17 strings, chopsticks and combining them with phasers, echo units and amplification, the new device was to become his signature sound, mixing Irish folk influences with Asian and North African sounds in a mesmerising and soulful new way that brought him to the attention of the leading improvisers of his day - Alice Coltrane, Ravi Shankar, Don Cherry and more.

A combination of dulcimer, zelochord and sitar, O Shea would play the instrument (Which he dubbed "Mo Chara", Irish for "My Friend") with a pair of chopsticks, striking the strings softly using Irish folk rhythms mixed with the rich, nostalgic sounds of of the many Asian artists he'd encountered on his travels. It was a pan cultural sound standing at an unusual crossroads of folk, traditional, rock, progressive, jazz, electronic and post-punk worlds without hesitation.

Perfecting the instrument on the streets, there were further spells spent busking in the underground stations and cafes of London's West End and Covent Garden during the heady days of the 1970s when they were full of eccentric street entertainers, jazz improvisers and musical pioneers. His contacts in the world of post-punk introduced him to Wire's Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis via cartoonist Tom Johnston, to which O'Shea would eventually acquiesce to an open invite to record at their studio. Turning up unannounced in the summer of 1981 the self-titled LP was recorded in a day in the legendary Blackwing Studios and released on Dome the year after.

Michael O'Shea quietly disappeared from the formal recording world not long after the record's release, and his brief but unique contribution to the music world came to a sad end in 1991 when he was struck by a post van and died a few days later in hospital in London. This repress on All City's AllChival imprint has been remastered and reissued with the approval of both Dome and O'Shea's surviving siblings. Lewis himself said years later of the forgotten masterpiece: "I always said it was the best job we ever did."