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Brooklyn based songwriter/guitarist Steve Gunn releases his second full blown singer-songwriter record entitled Way Out Weather. Released by North Carolina uprisers, Paradise of Bachelors, Way Out Weather delivers on the lone wolf promise made on Gunn’s 2013 release Time Off.
The album begins with it’s title track “Way Out Weather,” which dutifully channels the work of the late 60’s/early 70’s American folk tradition through that zone when The Grateful Dead first performed “Looks Like Rain” with Jerry Garcia on pedal steel in ‘72. “Wildwood” takes a step towards Gunn’s elder tour companions/collaborators Mike Cooper and Michael Chapman, upholding their loner troubadour tradition while establishing a broader range of sounds and influences. “Atmosphere” dabbles in middle eastern accents before Gunn’s distinct raga inspired mezzotints enter, giving way to humble drones that wax and wane as bass notes pulse and shift. “Tommy’s Congo” is perhaps the album’s finest moment, bringing some heavy heat through Tuareg styled guitar forms while the ideas of presence, transcendence, and freedom are all significantly expressed.
Elements of jazz, rock, folk, americana, and freeform all flow freely in unity through Gunn’s compositions. There is a grit and a softness to his work that feels natural even when the compositions get far out and freewheelin’. At the very least, Gunn is consistently creating peerless LP’s that will serve as a foundation for artists and audiences for many many years to come – Way Out Weather is a stunner.
