Black Wind

The satisfaction of an unadorned room, a field without buildings. We hear austerity espoused in rhetoric, yet encounter it less in the flesh. The restraint required to forgo excessive overdubs or fussy arrangements. Don't throw it all against the wall then fix it in the mix. Just play the damn thing and have some big ears ready to react. Then walk away from it. On Black Wind, songwriter/guitarist Wes Tirey makes the case for quality over quantity. After a stream of well-received cassettes, Tirey assembled a reserved trio and laid down the soft law on a single night in September. Whereas his previous releases were turned inward, Black Wind opens out like Malick meditating on prairie grass. The words and imagery are stark, broad strokes while the arrangements are spacious, simple structures of Tirey's voice and acoustic guitar, with sparse backing from a telecaster and a trap kit. Opener "All the Livelong Day" comes on like Karen Dalton dressed-down to parched bone, window-lit dust and old chairs, while the final and title track flutters in bursts, unfurling heavy-lidded at daybreak "Tirey's playing has a grain-deep feel to it, something stirring and quite magical." ––The Guardian "Tirey rides the river like Mark Twain, turning his adventures into troubador stories with rich melodies and disorienting noise." ––KEXP "For those of who have yet to discover the wonder of Wes Tirey; there is no better time than now to hear, and experience what many have already discovered." ––Impose Magazine "Everything about Wes Tirey is compelling..." ––No Depression