“A Lenticular Slap” marches alongside a military snare drum patter, the twirling guitar lines interweaving like viewing telephone wires from a speeding car. John McEntire should be credited with a lot of this-the instrumentation is brilliantly recorded, crisp and exciting, always big but never overpowering. It’s a really fine line he walks here, and he dances across the damn thing. Walker’s voice is typically stirring here, confident yet never really overpowering the complexity of his instruments.Įverything here sort of sounds like the work of a hipper Dave Matthews Band. “Striking Down Your Big Premiere” is built upon a repeating, odd time signature groove that comes back to a cathartic set of power chords. I have yet to resent it.” I, too, have yet to resent it. In a press release for the record he sent out himself (he’s no longer working with Dead Oceans), he said, “Here’s a new INDIE ROCK record by me, ryley walker (small font on all the festivals in 2015 after an artificial wave of hype) recorded with john mcentire (TORTOISE/GASTR DEL SOL/SEA AND CAKE/STEREOLAB/BASTRO) I think its the best one so far. This new album seems to be a reaction to all the music he’s made in the past-music he’s not at all ashamed of, but which serves as emphasis for how much more he’s into this new era of Ryley.
He’s come a long way to arrive at Course in Fable, an ecstatically powerful record of prog and jamming and lyrics that are just clever enough to not be silly.
His first few Dead Oceans albums sounded a bit like post-Van Morrison wispy folk-jazz, and before that he was deep in the solo instrumental guitar game. Ryler Walker’s music just fucking rips-it’s music you can intellectualize, but take off your glasses and just enjoy the shred.
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