Locust Land in Bloomington, MN

Chicago-based guitarist
Bill MacKay
has built a catalog embodying several genres and few boundaries. The self-released works flirted with improvising on folk-pop instrumentals, teasing vanguard electric jazz, blues, and Americana (evidenced by the
Sounds of Now
,
Broken Things
'
Swim to the River
, and three
Darts & Arrows
recordings). He's issued three wonderfully idiosyncratic, solo albums --
Chatham Park
Esker
, and
Fountain Fire
-- and three more with guitarist and vocalist
Ryley Walker
. There are two experimental dates,
Stir
with cellist
Katinka Kleijn
Keys
with multi-instrumentalist
Nathan Bowles
; a solo outing of
John Hulburt
tunes;
Black Duck
with
Doug McCombs
and
Charles Rumback
; and
Foreign Smokes
Bitchin' Bajas
Cooper Crain
. This brings us to
Locust Land
MacKay
's fourth
Drag City
outing. While it settles comfortably between
, it offers a distinct musical profile.
is assisted selectively by drummer/vocalist
Mikel Patrick Avery
, vocalist
Janet Beveridge Bean
, and bassist
Sam Wagster
. This is the first time that, other than an upright piano,
has woven his electronic keyboards into a session.
contains nine songs spread over 30 minutes.
delivers a seductive weave of dreamy soundscapes and instrumental textures, lyrical songwriting, guitar improv, and organic production.
Opener "Phantasmic Fairy" offers fingerpicked electric guitars wrapped in reverb, piano, backmasked production, and whispering keyboards that float and hover for just under two minutes. It's answered by "Keeping in Time," a plaintive vocal number with acoustic guitars and distorted electrics balanced by a lyric and melody that recalls, strangely,
Savoy Brown
's "Train to Nowhere." "Half of You" is introduced by a strummed acoustic guitar and adorned by serpentine electric guitar fills and vocals. Single "Glow Drift," with
Avery
Wagster
, is a rocking instrumental that crosses surf, the
Velvets
, and Southern California psychedelia with dirty guitars, Farfisa organ, drums, and a throbbing bassline. "Oh Pearl" offers a cut-time country music cadence delivered by mandolins, droning electric, slide-strummed acoustic guitars, and wafting keys. "Radiator" is instrumental psychedelic rock, driven by filthy electric guitars and an organ playing the progression chords. It sounds like
Crazy Horse
Can
's
Michael Karoli
on lead guitar.
's fills are biting, bluesy, and economical. "When I Was Here" is another rocker, this time with vocals and autobiographical lyrics that amount to a mission statement.
Bean
provide multi-part wordless vocals arranged in neo-classical rounds on "Neil's Field," wafting atop a droning organ, acoustic guitars, and drenched in reverb. It segues into the closing title cut, a modal acoustic guitar tune with multiple layers of six-strings and gorgeous electric lead and slide fills; it's a loose, wonderfully tangled, melodic jam that recalls, in spirit,
David Crosby
's "Music Is Love."
is arguably the finest of
's solo albums because it is so self-contained. It reflects his musical history in the present, while providing canny hints about what the future may hold. ~ Thom Jurek