Jeremy Engel - Roam Like a Wave (self-released)

If many people wielding acoustic guitars can easily be categorized as folk players, even such a vague and bountiful tag as that isn’t big enough for the music that Jeremy Engel makes. Sure, “Roam Like a Wave” is a song with an acoustic guitar beating at its heart, but that is where the similarity ends and, as is always the case, it is those additional tones and textures, those sonic inclusion and extra-musical lines that make all the difference And it is those that make Engel anything but just another run-of-the-mill folk player.

It isn’t too much of an ask on the listener’s part to consider this less a mere listening experience and more of a sonic journey, Engel’s music taking us by the hand and leading us through all genres and geographies. And although it may start in a relatively recognizable Western folk place, as the strings rise to signify a new direction, we find ourselves transported through lilting Spanish guitar riffs, gypsy violins, and hints of North African, arabesque vocals.

But as much as the song strides out across landscapes, both sonic and physical, it is inwards that it looks in its lyrics, musing on themes of resilience and self-discovery and thoughts on how we live many lives and follow many paths within this brief timespan that we are allotted.

If folk music often talks about traveling, in “Roam Like a Wave,” we have a song that makes you feel as if it is actually dragging you down paths less traveled with it. This is less the sound of music, it is the soundtrack to adventure.

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