The RGM Inbox: January 2022
Welcome to 2022 at Red Guitar Music. Updates have been a little sketchy recently at RGM as real life and the demands of having a day job in retail and/or family stuff tend to get in the way a little during the season of goodwill to all men. Hopefully, as we ease into the new year, we’ll be able to push on, shining a light on more great music, which was the plan back in 2014 and remains the plan in 2022. Today’s selection features impressive new musical offerings from Norway (Pjusk), the USA (KYOTY and Young Mountain) and, from the UK, Gilmore Trail. Enjoy.
As I look out the window onto a very cold, white and frosty landscape the minimalist, ambient sounds of Pjusk provide the perfect soundtrack. Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik is a Norwegian composer who has released a string of works since 2007 and his latest ‘Sentrifuge’ is set for release via Somewherecold Records (can you detect a theme here?) on March 18th, 2022 on CD and Digital. Opening track ‘Aftenblå’ (Evening Blue) perfectly sets the scene as it ebbs and flows beautifully drawing you in to its icy heart. Check out the soundcloud link below to discover ‘Sentrifuge’ and the extensive Somewherecold discography of ambient electronica.
Now if your taste in instrumental music is on the heavier side, while still retaining bags of atmosphere, then New Hampshire post-metal, sludge duo KYOTY have you covered. Nick Filth - Guitars and Nathaniel Parker Raymond - Bass will release their latest album ‘Isolation’ via Deafening Assembly on February 25th. First single and video ‘Quarantine’ wordlessly captures feelings that will be all to familiar to many of us as the pandemic continues to retain its seemingly endless grip on society.
Photo credit Garrett Cardoso
We stay in the USA to catch up with Young Mountain a seven-piece alternative/post rock band hailing from Atlanta, Georgia. Originally intended as a solo project for Jason Mays to release music inspired by, and as a tribute to his late father, Young Mountain has expanded into a fully fledged band with Mays joined by Hance Alligood (Woe, Is Me, Favorite Weapon), Nicholas Alper (Nowhere Safe), Michael Matejick (Of Machines, Native Suns), Spencer Strobel (Native Suns), Matt Mulkey (DIM, Woe, Is Me) and Justin Simard. The material on their debut EP actually dates back to 2018 and deals with loss, heartache and mental illness, issues that are only too real to many of us in 2022.
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/youngmountain/if-you-leave
Credit: Chris M Saunders
Back in the UK, Gilmore Trail will release their new album ‘Impermanence’ on January 21st via Chasmata records. It’s been six years since ‘The Floating World’ and ‘Impermanence’ sounds like an impressive return with seven instrumental tracks taking you on a sonic journey inspired by the likes of Pink Floyd, Mogwai, King Crimson and Oceansize that feels ominous yet hopeful. Below are two tracks from the album, the calm before the storm ‘Nocturne’ and the epic ‘Echoes of Solitude’. Newcomers, and fans of David Lynch, might also want to check out their wonderful covers of the music from Twin Peaks.
Available digitally on all streaming platforms and physically, the 12” of ‘Impermanence’ includes a vinyl-only bonus track: “Origins/Oceans” (Live).
The band will be playing a London show on Sunday 20th February @ The Victoria, Dalston as main support for Mountain Caller at the Portals All Dayer. Tickets: https://link.dice.fm/Y1a93262f9ac
Coincidentally Gilmore Trail are named after a passage in Alaska - a route recommended for best experiencing the Northern Lights, which seems a good place to end this rather chilly latest edition of the RGM Inbox. So, until next time…