Ryley walker same minds full#

Far from mere pastiche, Primrose Green deftly secures a place within the ranks of its most direct influences, proving Walker as heir apparent to the Buckley/Jansch/Drake/Morrison mantle. Building exponentially on the promise of his earlier work, WalkerвЂ™s sophomore album shows an artist finding confidence in a sprawling exploration of more song-based вЂ60s British folk rock traditions. вЂњThe High RoadвЂќ especially carries echoes of Nick DrakeвЂ™s вЂњCello SongвЂќ and finds Walker returning to more familiar environs, albeit with greater confidence and stronger arrangements.ДЄ declarative, assured statement, Primrose Green is a massive step forward both musically and artistically. Closer in tenor to the latter, Walker possesses more of the formerвЂ™s earthbound sense of form and melody.

With the incorporation of jazz elements into his compositions (see вЂњSummer DressвЂќ and вЂњSame MindsвЂќ in particular), comparisons to Drake and Buckley abound. While in sharp contrast stylistically, they feel very much of a whole and in keeping with WalkerвЂ™s new sense of aural aesthetics.

While the former finds Walker nearly growling the songвЂ™s вЂњ IвЂ™d rather be deadвЂќ chorus, the latter relies more on a swift recitation of the lyrics against a decidedly British folk-inspired melody. The sprawling вЂњSweet Satisfaction,вЂќ in particular, turns into a manic, fuzzed out psych-folk freak-out, while вЂњLove Can Be CruelвЂќ builds to the mirror image of the latterвЂ™s frenzy, drawing to a more subdued conclusion.

Ryley walker same minds full#

Where that album largely featured subdued acoustic folk, Primrose Green is full of lush, urgent pastoral folk songs shot through with jazz underpinnings, often exploding with reckless abandon. Amplifying his arrangements and infusing each with an unrelenting urgency, Walker shows dramatic growth as an artist over his last release, 2014вЂ™s All Kinds of You. Throughout, the music on Primrose Green has a meditative quality, hypnotically spiraling through extended instrumental passages and showcasing WalkerвЂ™s vocals, now inhabiting a space somewhere between MorrisonвЂ™s wordless grunts and JanschвЂ™s utilitarian drawl. Lacking MorrisonвЂ™s interpretive nuance, WalkerвЂ™s approach here, while certainly reminiscent of Astral Weeks and the like, is more akin to that of Jansch and, back stateside, Tim BuckleyвЂ™s mystical folk jazz. With an air of mysticism and elements of jazz creeping into his playing, Van Morrison comparisons, while certainly apt, will feel a bit too on the nose and slightly ill-fitting.

Primrose Green, WalkerвЂ™s latest and first for Dead Oceans, finds him having fully embraced the work of the aforementioned Jansch (with and without Pentangle), Nick Drake, Van Morrison and a host of others. Taking cues from Jansch, his playing and singing began to move away from American influences and more into the equally rich tradition of British folk guitarists.

His fingers nimbly exploring the fretboard, Walker quickly found favor within a new generation of solo acoustic performers, many of whom gravitated to the Tompkins Square label and Takoma sound.Д«ut unlike those who operated strictly within the solo instrumental realm and found inspiration in celebrated American guitars, Walker showed flashes of a performer looking to create something slightly less insular and more song-based. Proving himself a deft acoustic guitarist, his initial recordings for Tompkins Square recalled the sounds of folk icons Bert Jansch, John Fahey and those who found a home on FaheyвЂ™s Takoma label in the late вЂ60s. As a performer, Ryley Walker has worn his influences on his sleeves.