(2017) Gunn-Truscinski Duo - Bay Head



Review: 
The instrumentals that guitarist Steve Gunn and drummer John Truscinski make together usually start with pretty simple ideas: a couple of chords, a small hook, a solid 4/4 beat. As their music progresses, they play with casual, unhurried confidence. Yet eventually, each song becomes rich and dense, encompassing moods and ideas far more complex than a few string plucks or drum slaps normally can muster. 
The duo’s ways of moving from simplicity to complexity are often pretty simple, too. Sometimes it’s a matter of repetition, as Gunn replays his initial notes with increasing intensity and Truscinski ramps up his sturdy rhythm. A few of the tracks on their third album, Bay Head, are masterful exercises in single-minded devotion. 
Take the one-eyed hypnotism of “Flood and Fire,” which opens with Gunn jangling two chords and Truscinski pounding out a matching beat. As the duo swerves into excited tangents, they never lose sight of their launching points. 
There are times, too, when Bay Head’s depth comes from actual musical complexity. Gunn is capable of thick note clusters and nimble runs, especially when he plays acoustic, and Truscinski can reel off polyrhythmic swirls. The pair often intertwines many reference points (damaged blues, modal jazz, Eastern melody, classic rock riffs) so tightly that it’s tough to isolate each strand. This time around, they’re also more interested in abstraction—take the sparkling drone of opener “Road Bells,” or the slow feedback cloud in “EIP”—prioritizing texture over structure. 
that’s pointed toward the sky. 

Tracklist: 
01 - Road Bells.flac 
02 - Seagull for Chuck Berry.flac 
03 - Quiet Storm (Taksim III).flac 
04 - Sugar.flac 
05 - EIP.flac 
06 - Shell.flac 
07 - Some Lunar Day.flac 
08 - Flood and Fire.flac 
09 - Gunter.flac 
10 - Coral.flac 

Summary: 
Country: USA 
Genre: post-rock, psychedelic rock