It leans the closest of anything here towards the British folk stylings of his first two albums, yet is tinged with the uninhibited strangeness of the Chicago improv scene that drew the fledgling guitarist in as a teenager and informed Course In Fable.
Janel and Anthony alternately charm and challenge, with music that draws from classical, experimental, jazz, rock and electronic traditions but that ultimately is simply theirs. It’s in many ways an encapsulation of Ryley Walker’s career to date. Anthony Pirog, an omnivorous, multi-faceted guitarist who studied jazz at Berklee and has performed country, fingerstyle, rock and surf music and Janel Leppin, a conservatory trained cellist steeped in North Indian and Persian classical music, who also plays electric bass in rock bands, have created a lavishly detailed musical journey, by turns ravishing and harrowing. Janel and Anthony: Both musicians, together and separately, have long been an important and active part of Washington D.C.’s new-music scene. will perform in a duo setting for guitar and pedal steel. His most recent album, Compulsions, is out through Astral Editions. Rooted in the traditions of the American south, Bohannon has been honing his craft behind the scenes of his drone/ambient project, Ancient Ocean. Bohannon is a 6 &12 string fingerstyle guitarist from Louisville, Kentucky, now residing in Brooklyn. His latest full-length, Course in Fable, was produced by Tortoise's John McEntire, and Ryley has recently been touring as the support act for Dinosaur Jr. He's released a string of critically-acclaimed albums through Tompkins Square, Dead Oceans, Thrill Jockey, Drag City, and most recently through his own Husky Pants label. Hook-heavy and topped by Walker’s ever-confident speak-sing and quirky storytelling, songs like “Axis Bent” and “Shiva with Dustpan” should provide thrilling moments to nerd out to when live shows return, along with epically zig-zagging math-folk sagas like “A Lenticular Slap.” Course In Fable signals a rebirth in sound, spirit, and purpose for Walker, and the myriad genres he’s hopped from are fully realized in one heady vision.Ryley Walker is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Rockford, IL who now resides in New York. It’s as if Dave Matthews were under the influence of early Genesis (a Walker favorite) and The Sea and Cake.įittingly, it’s the MVP-caliber contributions of the latter’s John McEntire behind the boards-and on synthesizer, keyboards and vibraphone-that prove key in fleshing out the album’s lush, textural sheen. Consider the heart-on-sleeve lyrics of album standout, “Rang Dizzy”: “I am wise/ I am so fried/ Rang dizzy inside/ Fuck me, I’m alive.” Building on the prog-folk jams of albums past, Walker-joined by a stellar group of mostly Chicago cohorts in guitarist Bill MacKay, bassist Andrew Scott Young, drummer Ryan Jewell, and cellists Nancy Ives and Douglas Jenkins-is operating on a whole other spectrum.
On his newest record, Course in Fable, Walker combines catharsis with-what else?-heroic feats of six-string slaying.įrom the moment the in-your-face, prog rock riff pyrotechnics are unleashed on “Striking Down Your Big Premiere,” the album’s arena-ready opening epic, the spirit uplift is firing on all cylinders. The mystical fingerpicking and majestic tunesmithery that define records like 2016’s Golden Sings That Have Been Sung and Deafman Glance, which arrived two years later, carved out a sound-exploring niche all his own. More recent albums (2016's Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, 2018's Deafman Glance) hinted at an equally adventurous songwriting style without ever quite arriving at a totally comfortable position. Pre-order buy pre-order buy you own this wishlist in wishlist go to album go to track go to album go to trackĪn ace folker, shredder, songwriter and improviser, the thirty-something New York City-via-Chicago guitarist Ryley Walker has left few musical stones unturned. Music Critic review of Course in Fable, the album release by Ryley Walker.
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