Golden Brown

It’s been a packed year, at least musically, and for that I’m always a bit grateful that December slows down to a bit of a crawl. Though, the rush to zip up the year seems to be especially pervasive this year. Nonetheless, there are still plenty of albums that need a good shout before I can call the line on 2020. Case in point is this immersive work from Colorado’s Golden Brown. The record popped up in Bandcamp digging but got swept away until now, but that’s no assessment on the works couched in Flora and Fauna of the Uncanny Valley. Stefan Beck adds to the year’s renewed focus on lush instrumental folk and cosmic country. With touches of charango, cello, lap steel, and a gentle brush of field recordings, Golden Brown’s album is a pastoral delight glows under the rays of a rising sun. Beck lets his guitars ramble, but less in the Takoma school and ebbing into the open arms of Cosmic American breakdowns shot through with an Appalachian heart.

The record stretches out, long as sun on the valley — the songs waft in and out with a feeling of changing on the breeze. The natural qualities endear this quite nicely to the work of North Americans, both records wind themselves through the natural world in symbiotic bliss. Beck handles all instruments here save for the cello, and it’s an impressive undertaking to say the least. Beck hasn’t remained still since Flora and Fauna’s release, re-recording some early material with fresh ears and creating a dub version of several of the album’s tracks, playing with the sense of atmospherics. Beck’s is a talent I hope to hear more from in the coming years, but for now this is a glowing album of subtle grace.

Support the artist. Buy it HERE.