(2021) Mason Lindahl - Kissing Rosy in the Rain


Review:
Mason Lindahl is a guitarist and composer based in New York City. His finger-picking style is largely influenced by minimalism and classical music. He grew up listening to folk and country music in Northern California, where he was first taught to play the guitar by his father. Kissing Rosy in the Rain was recorded in Oakland, California and Brooklyn, NY with Lindahl’s longtime friends – Jay Pellici (Dilute, 31 Knots, Natural Dreamers) Robby Moncrieff, and Ben Greenberg (Uniform/Hubble). The title to Lindahl’s second album is aptly sensuous, his microphones picking up the graze of fingers across strings, the idle creak of furniture, every drop of feedback and reverb etching these nine instrumentals. Firmly in the lineage of American primitive mavericks, from Robbie Basho through 21st century descendants Ryley Walker and William Tyler, Lindahl’s music is rooted in folk and classical, but he’s equally invested in ambience and atmospherics, the dynamic possibilities of such intimate music. Opener Sky Breaking, Clouds Falling is a piece of elemental drama, Lindahl’s rolling picking and strums scraping against dark waves of synth, while Deep Wish lends emotional charge to its every peak and plummet. On tracks like “Distress” he plays arrhythmically, using tons of romantic rubato, jazzy chords and a mix of classical and folksy clawhammer techniques. Chords are never struck or strummed, but gently unfurled as finger-picked arpeggios; they tumble out haphazardly, shimmering as they fall. The result is an austere, gothic flamenco that is samey but never repetitive. Lindahl makes no effort to appeal to the casual listener, but instead dares you to submit to this odd and immersive sonic universe that he has constructed.





Track Listing:
1.Sky Breaking, Clouds Falling 04:24
2.Rising 02:43
3.Outside Laughing 04:13
4.Distress 03:21
5.Soft Light 01:47
6.Kissing Rosy in the Rain 02:52
7.Deep Wish 04:54
8.In Lieu 04:33
9.Fantasy in Spectacle 03:39


Media Report:
Genre: acoustic, folk
Country: USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits