New World, Lonely Ride

Ambient Americana. Slow, sad, dreamy, and beautiful. Evocative of desert landscapes, long journeys alone on foot, peaceful desolation. Gentle guitar melodies, rich pedal steel and lap steel textures, soft synthsizers. Michael Grigoni (based in Durham, NC) and Pan•American (Mark K. Nelson, based in Chicago) have made lovely solo records, and they complement each other perfectly. RIYL 12k, SUSS, Chuck Johnson, ambient Brian Eno, postapocalyptic westerns. Favorites: 1, 3, 4, 7. No words (except very briefly at the end of 4), no FCCs.

1. *(3:34)—Lilting mid-tempo chord progression. Fingerpicking and lonely slide guitar.
2. (3:49)—Bubbling, gently glitchy textures.
3. *(4:32)—Echoing acoustic guitar, soft 80s guitar textures.
4. *(4:06)—Deep, slow electric guitar. Woozy, wafting pedal steel melodies.
5. (3:24)—Gleaming synthesizer drone, sounds of leaves.
6. (3:53)—Mid-tempo fingerpicked guitar with a catchy, hummable guitar melody on top.
7. *(3:26)—Underwater-sounding textures, ripples of low guitar melody.
8. (3:35)—High, shimmering textures. Clicking and waterlike sounds.
9. (3:25)—Pillowlike drone, soft backward guitar, high pinging strings.
10. (5:53)—Sunny-sounding, with lazily playful melodies over a major-key drone.