Andrew Tuttle’s fifth album begins with a way of being untethered and adrift, washes of summary sound floating via the combo, a sense of disorientation dominating. You is perhaps reminded of the famed opening sequence of Werner Herzog’s Aguirre, The Wrath Of God, with Popol Vuh’s uncanny soundtrack accompanying the misty visuals of Sixteenth-century conquistadors trudging via a treacherous Amazon rainforest. The place are we? How did we get right here? Tuttle isn’t one to let his listeners drown in a whirlpool of confusion, nevertheless. After a minute or so, his resonant, reassuring five-string banjo seems like a beacon within the evening, grounding us, guiding us safely right down to earth. For this specific journey, we are able to relaxation straightforward. We’re in good arms.
The banjo is a difficult instrument, one so related to particular strains of people, bluegrass and nation music that it could come throughout as a cliché –an all-too-familiar signifier of rootsy flavours and faux-downhome vibes. However some musicians have risen to the problem of discovering contemporary new potentialities, from stars like Béla Fleck and Rhiannon Giddens to considerably extra obscure iconoclasts like George Stavis (whose 1969 solo deconstruction of “My Favourite Issues” needs to be heard to be believed) and Nathan Bowles, who has spent a number of current LPs exploring the instrument’s outer limits. There’s a number of music to be discovered within the banjo, you simply need to know the place to look.
Andrew Tuttle positively is aware of the place to look. Over the course of his 4 earlier albums, the Brisbane-based musician has carved out a snug area of interest for himself, one the place trad-based soulfulness peacefully coexists with ambient, experimental and new age leanings. He’s an primarily melodic participant – not too many sharp edges right here – however with an inquisitiveness and creativeness that retains issues from being too cosy. Whereas his chosen instrument will at all times carry with it folks connotations, Tuttle appears devoted to uncovering its cosmic qualities. His spacious and charming 2020 LP Alexandra felt like a breakthrough on this respect; Fleeting Journey is even higher.
This isn’t a solo banjo affair, nevertheless. Removed from it. On Fleeting Journey, Tuttle has gathered an all-star forged of characters to assist deliver his bold visions to life. Again to that opening monitor, the fantastic, seven-minute “In a single day’s A Weekend”. Right here, Tuttle’s plaintive banjo is encircled by an array of majestic sounds: serpentine electrical guitar through Steve Gunn, enveloping electronics courtesy of Balmorhea’s Michael A Muller, violin swirls from Aurélie Ferrière, and the mild saxophone of Joe Saxby. The result’s a lush and unabashedly lovely sonic panorama, however Tuttle is portray greater than only a fairly image.
The musicians unfold throughout the album’s seven tracks are separated by huge distances, from Stockholm to San Francisco, from Brooklyn to Texas. Greater than something, Fleeting Journey celebrates the sensation of world connectivity that this sort of far-flung collaboration can foster, digital recordsdata despatched throughout oceans that alchemize into moments of real magic. We hear Tuttle broadcasting indicators via the ether and his associates answering again, a fabulous and heartening call-and-response. Made within the thick of a worldwide pandemic, with the gamers usually locked down of their respective places, the outcomes aren’t merely a surprise of recent know-how. They’re downright miraculous.
Considered one of Tuttle’s collaborators, Chuck Johnson, deserves a particular call-out. Not solely did he combine Fleeting Journey (alongside Lawrence English), giving the whole file an uncluttered, widescreen sheen to even its most intricate passages, however he additionally contributed as an instrumentalist to one of many album’s highlights. One of many main lights of the burgeoning cosmic pedal-steel scene, Johnson provides his slo-mo tones to “Correlation”, an excellent complement to Tuttle’s shimmering banjo plucks, conjuring up a hopeful dawn, delivering a ready-made meditative mind-set to the listener. Extra pedal-steel goodness wafts in from Nashville, because of Luke Schneider (whose sensible 2020 solo LP Altar Of Concord is effectively price looking for out), who sends luminous smoke rings of sound curlicueing via “Subsequent Week, Pending” and “New Breakfast Behavior”.
Fleeting Journey’s nearer, “There’s At all times A Crow”, finds Tuttle on his personal, or a minimum of with none human firm. Right here, he communes with the pure world, with numerous feathered associates (together with, sure, a crow) duetting along with his rippling enjoying. There’s nothing wildly revolutionary about utilizing discipline recordings in any such music, however Tuttle makes it really feel impressively contemporary, the music’s momentum steadily constructing till issues start to interrupt down in beautiful, atmospheric trend, that crow persevering with to squawk within the distance. Good concord? Not fairly. However shut sufficient.
