Elkhorn's Acoustic Storm
I don’t live somewhere with seasons. I live in a place that is hot or less hot. In the middle of a desert and I don’t understand why anyone ever thought it was a good idea to build a major metropolitan city here, Phoenix (or its adjacent suburbs.
But I still have a soul. And I miss seasons. I mean, I have experienced them, they’re just currently part of my imagination and not my life.
And even though I don’t like Christmas music, music, music often has a strong seasonal element for me. Not that this is Christmas music, but it was recorded in the midst of a snow storm. Elkhorn (usually a guitar duo made up of childhood friends, Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner was scheduled to play a show with (third guitarist) Turner Williams Jr. but the show was snowed out as the group was snowed in (see what I did there?). Making the most of the night, the group hunkered down in Gardner’s home studio and improvised some jams. The first installment, The Storm Sessions was released earlier this year and we are now treated to the acoustic counterpart, The Acoustic Storm Sessions.
The resulting two pieces evoke the crispness of winter and the crackle of a first snow. Meditative but not lulling. Meandering but not lost. These are musicians at ease with themselves and the music flowing through them. Slowly unfolding, the first song plays with interlocking and intertwining patterns that sometimes resolves themselves and sometimes simply morph into something else.
The record is hitting mailboxes this week and I can’t wait for you to hear this one.