Danny Arakaki
★★★★
Tumble In Shade
HUSKY PANTS. CD/DL/LP
Garcia Peoples’ psych tearaway chills out.
As New York poster boys of the indie jam-band scene, the brilliance of Garcia Peoples’ chops can sometimes come at the expense of fully-realised songs and vocals: the prog-folkkosmische choogle is so exhilarating, their core is occasionally stress-tested beyond its limits. Among many great things about this first solo album from Danny Arakaki, one of the band’s multiple singing guitarists, is that he slows down a little and lets his songs find more measured resolutions. The psychedelic blend remains strong, and his accompanists – drawn from Endless Boogie, Chelsea Light Moving and Weyes Blood’s alma mater, Jackie-O Motherfucker – are just as skilled. But there’s a mellower roll here, even when Arakaki and guitar foil Mike Bones duke it out, Howlin Rain-style, on Born In The Garden. An East Coast band playing in a West Coast tradition, basically, that reaches its apotheosis on Somewhere Else, as Dan Iead’s pedal steel escorts Arakaki and co on a lengthy ride into the sunset.