Slow Grass

An appropriate title for an album of slow, soft acoustic guitar and outdoor sounds. Serene, generously melodic and emotive, assertively unhurried. Lake Mary is the work of Missouri-based guitarist Chaz Prymek, lately best known for being in the ECM-influenced quartet Fuubutsushi with saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi, violinist Chris Jusell, and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Sage. Shiroishi and Jusell guest on this record. This music is balm and oxygen. RIYL Marisa Anderson, William Tyler, Chuck Johnson, Andrew Weathers, Loren Connors, late Talk Talk. Both pieces are great: play 1 if you want more dramatic dynamics, 2 if you want a more mid-tempo pace. No FCCs detected.

1. (21:04)—Really slow fingerpicking: playing three or four notes at a time, then letting the sound tail off before the next cluster. Distant subtle percussion, bird calls, really nice gentle singing and saxophone courtesy of Patrick Shiroishi. Final quarter is ecstatic but still melodic, with saxophone runs and hammering on the guitar neck.
2. (19:28)—Again fingerpicking with a lot of space, droning violin, but a little faster this time. Hushed singing by Shiroishi. Richly pastoral, easygoing, soothing, all fresh and fragrant air.