BARRY WALKER JR - Paleo Sol

"Paleo Sol" is a record that unhesitatingly digs into the furrow of American ambient music carved by Steve Gunn and Andrew Tuttle. The compositions settle onto evocative pedal steel chords, making full use of the ripples created by drummer Rob Smith (Rhytion Pigeons) and bassist Jason Willmon (his fellow traveler in Mouth Painter).

Barry Walker's record is a journey through the geological wonders of Oregon (Barry is a geologist and professor). The flowing pedal steel notes are absorbed yet also descriptive and analytical, often stripped-back and almost minimal ("Quiessence"), but the rhythmic pacing doesn't indulge that fragility—at times it unsettles the melodic flow with dark dissonances ("Son, Don't Brighten The Bear Creek Rhyolite") or flirts with jazz ("Under Leaf Hill").

In this exploration that is both earthly and celestial, Barry Walker Jr finds room for bold passages that, in telling Oregon's story, reveal centuries-old ripples ("Leaving Lower, Big Basin") and gradually strip away the ambient patina for a livelier, more unpredictable guitar dissertation, as on "A Trip Into Town".

There isn't a single moment of pause in the trio's musical enchantment. The twelve minutes of "Sentient Lithosphere" arrive almost at the album's close: the pedal steel converses with drone music of a solemn, circular tone like a mantra, a magical otherworldly place where Indian music, the minimalism of Terry Riley and delicate fingerpicking create a sonic flow rich in light and shadow that never seems to fade, even when the instruments fall silent. Excellent.