Mare

About

New Jersey-rooted ethnomusicologist (and PhD candidate) Julian Lynch makes music on his own terms — in the <i>au currant</i> lo-fi mode — and his compositions hint at a great many geographical topographies and cultures. On <i>Mare</i>, Lynch stitches together a sort of musical hybrid of influences both Western and Eastern, and delights in music that begs the question (according to one interview), “Are these sounds from Hindustani classical or from the Beatles? Gamelan or Debussy?” Guitars strings swoop like a sitar on “Just Enough,” but resonate like a Chinese lute on the gossamer “Travelers”; effects on a clarinet turn “A Day At the Racetrack” into a globetrotting day in the Saharan desert. Vocals are buried and softened; the words aren’t as important as are the combination of melody and voice-feel to a song’s success. On “Still Racing,” Lynch’s vocals feel like an esoteric instrument keeping company with glassy, acoustic-guitar picking, and they swathe “In New Jersey” — with its rhythms of lazy tablas and shakers — in a hazy cocoon. <i>Mare</i> is a surprisingly beautiful and many-layered delight.

via Apple Music