Powers/Rolin Duo

This week is brutally hot, so I’ll take any respite from the haze and the hammer of the thermometer. Thankfully the new album from Powers/Rolin Duo once again trickles down the speakers like running water. It’s the perfect antidote and a meditative muse to slow the heart’s pound. The pair’s mixture of guitar and dulcimer remains one of modern folk’s more magical moments, weaving their respective instruments into patterns and pieces that fold and unfold with light and lucidity. This time the band forgoes any brush with brevity in favor of two sidelong pieces. Though, as anyone who has witnessed the band live can attest, given time to lengthen their twining into tapestry, not a moment is wasted.
There are natural themes at work, or at least listed among the impetus for the record, and it’s only fitting that lava floes and bird’s flight are among the inspirations. Like their natural counterparts, the duo creates works that are patient and powerful — longform arcs that pull back into glowing patterns. It’s easy to get lost inside these works, strung up amongst the glow and sing of strings, but as the mind moves among the Powers/Rolin path it’s possible to find something akin to peace. The more that Jen and Matt pull at the gossamer thread, the more the tangles of the mind are set still. It’s rough out there, chances are you might need Clearing this week… and every week after.
Support the artist. Buy it HERE.