Steve Gunn and David Moore :: Reflections Vol. 1: Let the Moon Be a Planet

We last caught Steve Gunn and Bing & Ruth’s David Moore together on Gunn’s Nakama EP, the 2021 disc where the guitarist reimagined five cuts from that same year’s Other You with various collaborators. In an alternate version of “Reflection” Gunn and the minimalist composer expanded and extended conventional song structure but didn’t abandon it entirely. This new joint effort is far more open-ended, letting splayed guitar chords and clear, uncomplicated piano notes glance off one another in a gentle ebb and flow. The sessions began remotely, but culminated in physical proximity, in the serene Hudson Valley environs depicted on the album cover. And so, these cuts flit between what sounds like solitary introspection and communal imaginings, framed always by the quiet and calm of natural beauty. “Painterly” is especially lovely, with Moore marking out the territory in shadowy, mournful piano chords, and Gunn filling in spaces with a bird-like twitter of soft pizzicato guitar. “Paper Limb,” by contrast, starts in limpid guitar play, Moore coming in underneath in chords that reinforce without overwhelming the melody.  For a disc that was partly shaped through file sharing, there’s a lot of communication going on here; as one phrase fades out, another swirls up out of the dust in its wake. And yet, there’s plenty of space for contemplation, too, as overtones linger and mix and decay. Slow-blooming “Rhododendron” allows the vibrations from piano strings to shift and reshape themselves on the fly, as Gunn sets an agile counterpart to dance over the surface. The two players are never in a hurry, and neither should you be. Be still and quiet and let their music unspool. | j kelly

For heads, by heads. Aquarium Drunkard is powered by our patrons. Keep the servers humming and help us continue doing it by pledging your support via our Patreon page.