There are stories on Bolton‘s mind, and these stories have created an energy in the form of six musical vignettes which are vague but lively, and thus speak to us all, regardless of how our minds capture their energy, not with acuity but with empathy and imagination.
[Release page] Funny thing about getting nostalgic, everybody knows what it feels like but it can only be conveyed obliquely, since it is based on subjective memories of specific things. It is also a conservative sentiment, or at least preferable, inasmuch as it is familiar and often pleasing, even when it elicits feelings of longing.
Wil Bolton‘s latest album is by his own admission freighted with nostalgia for the music he listened to in his teens, recalled through the mauve haze of time that obscures precise detail. While his primary instrument is treated guitar, field recordings play a prominent and evocative role. They have been made in many places we’ve never been—the ruins of a medieval castle in Wales, a lighthouse in Anglesey, downtown Liverpool, North Africa and the Scottish Highlands—but recurring, fundamental elements, water and wind, trigger recognition and rekindle old memories.
“Clearing” is a beach in pale sunlight where the seagulls outnumber the people. Bolton’s guitar is at its sharpest here as it flecks the track like stray flashes coming off choppy water. The shoreline appears literally in “Blackpoint,” building up a shiver. Stayed too long and didn’t bring a sweater. “Skyview” sounds nostalgic for Brian Eno circa On Land. Though laced with static, “Barbed” is actually very soothing with its wandering, almost Western guitar. It could be urban—steel-belted radials on wet asphalt, or rural—the wind rushing through the branches of evergreens. “Dissolved,” pealing backward and forward and mimicking a harmonium or squeezebox, seems to be challenging the birdsong that appears throughout so much of this album. Finally, “Passing” is a kind of raga for pacing deep in thought along a pier that may not hold for much longer.
There are stories on Bolton’s mind, and these stories have created an energy in the form of six musical vignettes which are vague but lively, and thus speak to us all, regardless of how our minds capture their energy, not with acuity but with empathy and imagination. Under a Name That Hides Her is an accomplishment of sincere and subtle artistry.
Under a Name That Hides Her is available on Hibernate. [Release page]
