BARD EDRINGTON V – Two Days In Terlingua (own label)

Two Days In TerlinguaIt starts with a whisper, doesn’t it? – a whisper, a faint sound, before it becomes a scene, a movement, a Thing. Bard Edrington V’s new album Two Days In Terlingua is the latest album in a number of hugely listenable albums I’ve reviewed that tap into something of the life in the vastness of in the New Mexico/south-west-ish part of the USA.

Bard Edrington V is based in Santa Fe, and in that part of the USA, something is happening musically, more than a whisper, not yet a Thing, but definitely happening. Edrington V took time out from the Hoth Brothers and travelled the 500 or so miles to Terlingua; but in the scheme of things in America, even that is still next door.

Bill Palmer is another of the links and he engineered Two Days In Terlingua, having suggested to Edrington V that they go to a hundred year old church in Terlingua, set up a mobile studio and record an album…which they did. Not a standard recording, though. The band sat in a circle listening closely to each other (no headphones) with no more than three takes for the songs. I mention this because there’s an indefinable something when a band works well together and the album captures it. Two Days In Terlingua has that something; it means I’ve played it many times, humming along to songs that are melodic, repeatable, at times haunting.

Listen to ‘Ramblin’ Kind’ below, it puts you in the territory of this album:  American to the core, the titular ramblin’ man, neat picking, fast horse and smoking gun, Tucumcari, sleeping outside…and more. ‘Ramblin Kind’ is as American as Willin’. And that’s just the opening track.

‘Property Lines’ brings in a glorious mix of instrumentation, wild and under control at the same time. ‘Shut the Screen Door’ and ‘Masterpiece of St Marks Square’ are gentler; ‘A New Day on the Farm’ and ‘Ma Cherie’ are danceable; ‘Dog Tags 1942’ – despite its theme – is singable.

But the two stand out tracks on this rather grand album are ‘Strange Balloon’, simply an awesome arrangement behind Edrington’s haunting vocal, and ‘Athena’s Gaze’ dipping into the older rhythms of their broader desert location.

Something is definitely happening on this album, give it a listen – or ten.

Mike Wistow

Artist’s website: https://www.bardedrington.com

‘Ramblin’ Kind’ – in the studio: