Aux Meadows

Living in the crosshairs of Krautrock and country, pastoral and progressive, the new album from Aux Meadows is a dose of Kosmiche American that’s not to be missed. The band picks at the desolation of the American West, conjuring up ‘70s lonesome epics from The Hired Hand to Paris, Texas, soundtracking a vision of dusted drives and grease-stained suburban sprawl. The pavement on Draw Near is always cracked, parched plants pushing their way through to unforgiving sunbeams. But, there’s a subtle grace to the record as well, something that carries through in the easy amble of “By The Lantern,” the dreamlike haze of “Asleep In Air,” or the baked and bucolic “Continuous Still.” Here, the band finds beauty amid the dryness and the desolation, an oasis anchored in parking lot corners, their backs to the blight and staring out over the horizon.

There’s a touch of menace in those hills too. It’s not all sunsets over the sagebrush. The band adds a touch of the crumble that’s cropped up in contemporaries like Old Saw or SUSS, picking at the wounds of Americana. “No Cash On The Premises” taps into this feeling, with its ghosts flickering behind the TV static. The band turns their saunter sour on “Permanent for Now,” an anxious cut soaked in perspiration and paranoia, but the tensions are only temporary, and by the time the band slips into the final stretch a sense of serenity has been restored. Ambient country heads and cosmic travelers rejoice, Aux Meadows has a journey in store for you.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.