Other You lands lightly, its breezy melodies unfurling in a quiet way. Bits of blues folk guitar are tucked in inobtrusively between the vocal phrases. A full rock band is on hand for support, plus piano, but the arrangements melt into the air. There’s a lot of air and space and light in these songs, though not a great deal of drama. It’s a nice rest, listening to Other You. It’s hard to remember what you heard, but very, very pleasant while it’s happening.
This is Gunn’s six album as a song-writer — he has a whole alternate persona as an improviser and instrumental collaborator — and it showcases the skill and assurance that he started to demonstrate along about Eyes on the Lines and really nailed in 2019’s The Unseen In Between. These are carefully constructed, beautifully arranged bits of melody, even if they mostly float on the surface. He works with an able though somewhat reserved group of musicians – Ryan Sawyer on drums, Ben Boye on piano, Justin Tripp on bass and other instruments, Rob Schnapf on guitar (he also produced the album), and Jerry Borge on keyboards. Guests include a number of people firmly within Gunn’s orbit. For instance, Bridget St. John, who sang on the Gunn-produced Michael Chapman record 50, adds some counterparts to “Morning River.” Bill MacKay kicks in a third guitar to the subtly textured “Circuit Rider,” while Tortoise vet Jeff Parker joins in on “Good Wind.” Mary Lattimore plays harp on “Fulton.” Yet despite, or perhaps because of the collective chops of the players, there are no overt displays of proficiency. Everything is subsumed into sunny, idling grooves of great clarity but little agitation.
Thus, while the title track glitters with jewel-like accents — twangy guitar parts, crisp, propulsive drums, twinkling runs of piano — the song is wrapped in misty atmosphere. Gunn sings gently, unhurried, as if he’s telling you a story. There’s a chorus, but it’s entirely devoid of bombast. The song ends in an instrumental free-for-all, but a muted well-behaved one, as if you’re hearing it from down the hall.
Late in the album, Gunn adds some welcome friction to cuts like blues-guitar-heavy “Protection,” one where the guitar licks take flight against a humming, nodding, slumberous motorik beat. “Reflection” takes shape in a wavery keyboard pulse, spare and introspective, yet gains density as it goes in swelling synths, bass and drums. The song’s melody is lovely, both as a bare confession and blown out in the chorus, and there’s some wild guitar work in here, though again, you have to listen for it.
The odd song out here is “Sugar Kiss,” a shimmering instrumental that teems with natural life and energy. Think of it as a pond somewhere out in the wild, Mary Lattimore’s harp skittering in treble-y sunlight activity over the surface, the bass dodging through the mix like a hungry mosquito, a synth making rippling waves, the whole thing humid and indefinite and very beautiful.
Mostly though, Other You feels prettier than it is consequential. Pleasant to a fault, it disappears with alarming speed into the background of whatever else you’re doing.
Steve Gunn has taken to social media to announce his new album ‘Other You’. The album which serves as the follow-up to his 2019 album ‘The Unseen in Between’ features guest appearances from Mary Lattimore, Julianna Barwick, Jeff Parker, Bridget St. John, Bill MacKay, Ryan Sawyer, and more. ‘Other You’ arrives on August 27.
“Hellooo – so happy to announce a new album, ‘Other You’, coming out on…
What if there are different dimensions and different yous live in each one of them and the dreams you have, especially those bizarre ones, is what's happening to them? You're connected to the other yous.
