Course in fable by ryley walker8/27/2023 ![]() “Mary mother of crack rocks the sun comes through the blinds.”Īfter a string of thrilling live collaborative improv and avant garde releases, Course In Fable marks the first official solo release from Walker on his new label Husky Pants Records. “Palpitations tick on time, I only wanted one and that was gonna be fine,” he sings on “A Lenticular Slap” showing his powerlessness. With his rich baritone, he makes casual references to his addictions that never read as a punchline but rather a documentation of his experiences. Lyrically, Walker lays bare the many struggles he has had over the last few years. The playing on the album also has a lot to do with that, as the difficult time signatures on a song like “Clad with Bunk” come off sounding inspired rather than the awkward attempts of many jam bands. Produced by studio wizard and Tortoise and Sea and Cake member John McEntire, each of these ingredients are treated delicately, making the transitions known but not forced. 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. And even if his city-dwelling observations are just as free-flowing, they capture the everyday essence of going on aimless strolls past nail salons and fluorescent-lit corner stores: “If only I gave to charity more often/The city streets would have a spit shine that is glowing.Growing up listening to jam band music can be more of an advantage than a disadvantage in a lot of ways. ![]() The native Illinois musician enlisted some of the major players in Chicago's experimental music scene to flesh out his vision, embracing virtuosic guitar tapping (“Clad With Bunk”), dub-tinged grooves (“Pond Scum Ocean”) and rough-edged jamming (“Rang Dizzy”) to bring his high-flying sound to life. For an artist who’s regularly summoned the spirit of '70s British folk rock while peppering in just a dash of rootsy flair-from 2015’s Primrose Green to his Dave Matthews Band covers album The Lillywhite Sessions-Walker builds on these foundations as he pushes further into improvisational jazz and prog rock. Baroque flourishes, fingerpicking arrangements, complex instrumental parts: These are some of the elements that characterise Ryley Walker’s crafty songwriting on Course in Fable, his fifth solo album.
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