Geese in the Flyway

Rogue Valley’s Chris Koza has a plan: to release four albums in a year’s time, one reflective of each season. The first in the series was the spring recording, Crater Lake (April 2010), a gorgeous, shimmering collection of songs about change and rebirth. The Bookseller’s House (August) represented its season well: the acoustic guitars are breezy and warm, the songs immediately familiar and embraceable. Geese in the Flyway somehow conjures an autumn snap in the air and the impending onset of winter. Opening track “Mountain Laurels” features Koza’s cascading vocal parts set against little more than bare bones piano and shy finger-picking and strumming in a mesmerizing melody.  Songs like “Et Al.” and “Grand Central Station” are sad farewells to summer, with gently sighing steel guitars and winsome harmonies and strings at their core. Bassist Linnea Mohn’s vocals are a revelation here; they glisten and enchant on “Somewhere in Massachusetts,” and entice and delight on the folky romp of “Centralia, PA.”