Mojave Between Ludlow and Needles

The latest installment in Full Spectrum’s ongoing Editions Littlefield series, which explores notions of intentional communities and progressive living, comes from Full Spectrum label head Andrew Weathers himself. A love letter of sorts to a particular hill in the midst of the Mojave Desert’s expansive wastes, Weathers’ vision for Mojave Between Ludlow & Needles was to create an aural snapshot of a place that he’s traversed many times. While not a particularly pretty spot, Weathers describes this location as “moving in its isolation.” His first visit included a fraught overnight campout, during which time he was convinced he would be attacked by coyotes in the night. On his latest visit, however, he had driven through the night and happened upon the hill a little after sunrise. He pulled over and sat on the hill, meditating on the brutality of the desert as the day’s heat set in. It’s a strangely specific locale to have woven into the comings and goings of one’s life, to be sure; and in like fashion, Weathers constructed the album through different divination procedures. He would set guidelines for his sessions, then record several tracks without using previous tracks as reference. The end result is a shambling mist of acoustic resonance and opaque melodies that rattle like tumbleweeds in the dry desert air, seeking their path of least resistance across the dusty landscape.