Eric Silverman

I’ve spent no small amount of time singing praises on Eric Silverman’s new LP, and chances are I won’t stop before the end of the year, where this will certainly hold a place among 2023 favorites. Silverman’s Stay In It embraces a West Coast eclecticism, tying together knots of psych, Americana, prog, and country. It’s the kind of album that’s fueled by late nights, long drags, lean years, and an unyielding vision, staring down perfect sounds and carving out quicksilver classics through the haze. Yet, the album marks a cut with that past, a jettisoning of the city, a move to the desert, an embrace of family, and a need to get the whirlwind of the previous years to tape.

Recorded in Landers’ desert heat on a Tacam 388 previously owned by Jerry Garcia, the record pushes much further into the California mythology than Silverman’s debut EP. Along with producer Damien Lewis and the inimitable synth of Adam MacDougall (Black Crowes, Circles Around The Sun), the pair sink into the sweat lodge psychedelics of August heat to hammer out an album that’s heir to the high ‘70s legacy of West Coat epics. Strains of No Other, After The Gold Rush, and Whatcha’ Gonna Do? mix with occasional undercurrents of UK prog when MacDougall surfaces — soft ripples of Close to the Edge or Echoes. The album’s tapestry of influences is what makes it so endearing, finding the loose threads of the past and braiding them together in unexpected ways, yielding progressive Westerns with sun-faded souls. The album’s themes of evolution, growth, and mindfulness nestle neatly among the grandiose production, forming the backbone of a labyrinthine album that makes it a joy to get lost and found.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.