Guitarist Mason Lindahl isn’t exactly prolific – Joshua/Same Day Walking, a pair of short albums recorded under two different circumstances but packaged together, is only his third project in sixteen years. But that actually feels appropriate. The New Yorker isn’t a virtuoso trying to spread the word about his skills – he’s instead a good musician trying to express himself in his own distinctive way.
Armed with a nylon string guitar, classical picking technique, and a solid grasp of minimalist musical vibes, Lindahl sits in front of the microphone, closes his eyes (we assume), and simply plays, letting his emotional mood (which apparently leans toward melancholy) come out of his fingers into the strings. Revolving around aggressively picked arpeggios and occasionally augmented by synths and organ so placid they’re beyond ambient, lovely, lonely tunes like “Long Prowl, Underwater” and “To Each His Own Remark” (from Joshua, recorded in Northern California) or “Little Sister” and “Moon Over” (from Same Day Walking, recorded in Iceland) stir the surface of what must be a very deep pool.
Like his peer Hayden Pedigo (who calls Lindahl “the greatest living guitar player”), Lindahl has no interest in impressing anyone, but instead communicating with them. Given the evidence on Joshua/Same Day Walking, that is something for which Lindahl possesses considerable virtuosity.
