And with mega-producer Steve Lillywhite having a hand in recording both Matthews and Peter Gabriel, the similarities become less of a stretch when you really think about it.Īll of this becomes apparent within the first crash hits of the album’s opening track “Striking Down Your Big Premiere.” The song opens on an arpeggiated guitar and synth riff that recalls moments on Genesis’ Foxtrot transitioning into a righteously noodly guitar solo before easing into a folk-rock groove. Hearing that record, you can easily see how being ignited creatively by Dave’s odd song structures as a teen would eventually lead you to someone like Jim O’Rourke. People were puzzled by his admitted love of Dave Matthews until they heard his 2018 reimagining of Matthews’ The Lillywhite Sessions. When tracing these influences with Walker, seeing how he could leap frog from one to the other makes a lot of sense in a way. A seemingly effortless magic trick that resulted in his best record to date. On his newest album Course in Fable, he has mined the jam influence of his youth and blended it with dashes of Chicago Indie Rock, John Fahey “American-Primitive” acoustics and a heavy dose of early British Prog. Ryley Walker understands this and wears this formative listening period like a badge. With so many of the jam band godheads - like The Dead, Phish and Dave Matthews Band - making their unpredictability and willingness to experiment with a wide net of different genres their calling card, it can be a valuable lesson for young and adventurous music fans to always give bands, albums and musical movements the benefit of the doubt. For starters, it can give you an even springboard at below zero elevation from which you climb your way back up to embracing more interesting music. 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.Growing up listening to jam band music can be more of an advantage than a disadvantage in a lot of ways. 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. 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.
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