Artist: William Tyler
Album: Goes West
Label: Merge Records
Release Date: 1.25.19
Talk is cheap to virtuoso musician William Tyler, whose pastoral folk instrumentals on Goes West are touching in ways words can’t convey. Oftentimes, they stretch out like murals of rolling, verdant Southern landscapes, as is the case with the lush opener “Alpine Star”—awash in psychedelia—and the sweeping “Fail Safe.” And then there’s “Call Me When I’m Breathing Again,” which is more intimate and tender, like a tearful embrace. It’s tempting to want to simply throw your arms around Goes West.
Trading in his usual electric guitar sparkle for spools of fine acoustic filament, Tyler, part of the stately alt-country collective Lambchop, as well as The Silver Jews’ indie-rock co-op, takes a melodic, serene Sunday drive through the country on Goes West. In doing so, he’s made the most emotionally resonant record of his career, his threads of intricate and easy picking gliding along effortlessly as if he’s drawing his own maps to undiscovered places of tranquil beauty. When guitarists Bill Frisell and Meg Duffy walk alongside him, the overlapping, clearly articulated electric and acoustic sides naturally play off each other.
Duffy and Frisell are partially responsible for building the spacious, arresting scenery of Goes West, as are keyboardist James Wallace, drummer Griffin Goldsmith, bassist and producer Brad Cook and engineer Tucker Martine. They all seem to instinctually grasp how best to frame Tyler’s purposeful wanderings, warmly exuding empathy, kindness and humanity. Watery vibraphone adds to the sumptuous calm of “Not in Our Stars,” as the soft, shuffling beats of “Venus in Aquarius” suggest a cosmic cowboy’s playfulness at work. Traces of country gentility are found in “Our Lady of the Desert,” as well, while “Virginia is for Loners” comes on like daybreak but gradually grows sadder.
Like flipping through a series of postcards, time spent with Goes West seems to fly by, its bittersweet pleasures inviting reflection and peaceful solitude. With outrage—some of it justified, some of it just plain loony—seemingly pouring out of every orifice of society, Goes West offers a means of escape.
—Peter Lindblad
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