David Lord

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Following two previous installments of his Forest Standards series, Montreal by way of Wichita guitarist David Lord brings the latest to Big Ego and Astral Spirits. The previous two landed with Big Ego as well, with the recordings laid to tape with Schlarb at the label’s studio in Los Angeles. The first two featured Chad Taylor, Devin Hoff, Schlarb himself, Sam Hake, Jeff Parker, and Billy Mohle among the players. This time around Christine Tavolacci joins on flutes, Nathan Hubbard on marimba and vibraphone, David Tranchina on double bass, with Taylor back in the mix on percussion and Lord on guitar and glockenspiel. The new record is larger and roomier than the previous installments, though still rooted in a pastoral jazz that’s lodged between Ash Ra and Sun Ra.

As noted on the release, Lord has developed his own extended lydian polychordal music system for composition and improvisation, a technique that colors much of Vol. 3. While that gives an indication of what’s going on under the hood, on the surface the album is furrowed with a fogged beauty — delicate, but expansive. The album’s natural themes magnify the minutiae of the forest floor, finding worlds within the wood, broadcasting a pulsating glow through the mycelium. The record captures the connected consciousness of the woodlands, sending the listener sliding through soil n’ seep of the ecosystem in unpredictable paths.

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