Mike and Cara Gangloff’s "Black Ribbon of Death, Silver Thread of Life" is the third in a series of loosely connected melodic investigations released by Mike Gangloff over the past two years. All three were recorded around the Gangloff home in rural Floyd County, Virginia, and were engineered by Joseph Dejarnette (Carolina Chocolate Drops, Bruce Greene, Curtis Eller). And all three feature the far-reaching improvisation familiar from Gangloff’s work with the old-time stringbandBlack Twig Pickers and the acoustic-drone outfit Pelt.Taken together, they form a musical triptych. Poplar Hollow (Mike on banjo and fiddle, with Cara joining on sruti box) reflects the social fiddle traditions of that part of Virginia, exuberant kick-ups that might be played at a barn-dance or at the country store. "Melodies for a Savage Fix" (recorded in an all-nighter with guitarist Steve Gunn, and featuring a host of non-Virginian instruments like gongs, tanpura and singing bowls) are the late-night ramblings and conversations that take place well after the dance is over, with dawn drawing nigh. "Black Ribbon..." is an album from the day after, when the cares of the world have again settled in.