Two Wings

As is often the case with any number of performers in the modern psych/folk vein, Ben Reynolds has multiple limited-edition releases available in the world along with a few formal ones (not counting his extensive work elsewhere in Ashtray Navigations and beyond). On Two Wings, he joins fellow performers on Strange Attractors Audio House like Glenn Jones and Harris Newman in exclusively exploring the acoustic guitar, doing so on five songs with sprightly intensity. Unlike the sometimes too-obvious Fahey-isms of many of his comrades in the field — not a bad thing, but still a bit wearying after a while — Reynolds leavens that particular mix with a sense of his own inventive delicacy. It's beholden to other figures in turn, admittedly — the invocation of Sir Richard Bishop on the release's cover sticker is not unwarranted, and it's often quite audible on songs like "Gravity Never Wins," which could almost be an acoustic version of a Sun City Girls melody. But the lovely "Here Toucheth Blues," which concludes the album on a sweet, almost skipping note, shows that he can be relatively straightforward with the best of them, to fine effect. His most striking moment on the album, though, ranks among his most original — the zoned drones of "Revolution," a seesawing series of grinding tones over which gentler melodies then arrive. It's a marvelous one-man band result that's both disconcerting and captivating. Not far behind is the dramatic conclusion of "Ewige Weisheit (For Meister Eckhart)," which ends the song in a sudden jump-off-the-cliff sprawl of notes that's breathtaking to hear.