Kevin Coleman

This record has been a constant on the speakers ever since it showed up in my queue to review. Coleman is a consummate tinkerer with tradition, and much like yesterday’s dive into Magic Tuber Stringband, Imaginary Conversations is an album that subverts those traditions as much as it celebrates them. Tackling a wide range of instruments on the record, Coleman brings his Appalachian string ensemble to life alongside Trevor Kikrante of Styrofoam Winos who adds mandolin, pedal steel, and synth, Scott Mattingly and Jack Dugan, who add prepared guitar and fiddle respectively. The record is rich and verdant from the first bars. I’ve previously explored the boundless joy of opener “Mammut Americanum,” but it bears repeating that the song offers up a potent blend of bluegrass and Appalachian blues, dappled with a nice dose of Autumn sun.

The record opens into more longform pieces following the “Mammut,” evoking wide open spaces and the endless clip of the white line on “Truckers To Pulaski.” The song swells and cedes like ranges on the horizon, a perfect distillation of road-worn ennui. The final track pushes Coleman away from the traditions and towards more hypnotic hues, bringing the circular sway of Achim Reichel to the Cumberland Gap. The record is an assured shift for Coleman, an extension of what he began on a split with Joseph Allred last year. It places his name in the running for folk figures to watch over the next few years, but even without the anticipation, its recommended that you let the psych and sweetness of Imaginary Conversations sit on your speakers.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.