Ryley Walker - Golden Sings that Have Been Sung - Vinyl LP

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The preceding years have been extraordinary for RyleyWalker. InMarch, his second album, Primrose Green,
emerged to critical hosannas from the likes of NPR,Village Voice,Uncut, andMojo – in the process, earning
admiration of musicians who had chalked up no shortage of turntable miles in Walker’s life. Robert Plant
declared himself a fan – as did double-bass legend Danny Thompson, with whom Ryley would later embark
on a British tour. A sprawling tour of the USA around Primrose Green presented a perfect chance to
workshop ideas for what would eventually become his third studio album, Golden Sings That Have Been
Sung.
On the album, “The Roundabout” represents a symbolic return to Chicago, while other songs are directly
wedded to Ryley’s actual return there. Perhaps more than any other song on the record, the somnambulant
sun-dappled intimacies of opening track “The Halfwit In Me” most audibly bear the imprint of Ryley’s
improvisational sessions with Wilco multi-instrumentalist, Chicagoan and producer Leroy Bach, while
“Funny Thing She Said” is an unflinching study of separation set to a shimmeringly supple ensemble
performance.
Soft, slo-mo explosions of melody intermittently burst through the distant thunder of the verses on “A
Choir Apart”. Intriguing, surreal images are meted out by “IWill Ask You Twice”, like a malfunctioning slide
projector; and, perhaps best of all, the stunning finale, “Age Old Tale”, which spiders out from an Alice
Coltrane-inspired reverie into a sustained rapture that very few artists have managed to achieve.

TRACK LIST
SIDE A:
1. The Halfwit In Me
2. A Choir Apart
3. Funny Thing She Said
4. Sullen Mind
SIDE B:
5. I Will Ask You Twice
6. The Roundabout
7. The Great And Undecided
8. Age Old Tale