Artist/musician Lonnie Holley's voice is arguably the most important in American music at this perilous point in our national history, and he's just released a new EP, titled National Freedom.
Holy. Shit.
Recorded at the studio of the late Richard Swift (producer for The Shins, Damien Jurado, David Bazan, Foxygen, Lucius, The Mynabirds, Laetitia Sadier, Cayucas, and others), right out of the gate, the album leans into some earthy Muddy Waters-style blues with the track Crystal Doorknob.
To me, Holley's music has always been about transcendence. Taking random, almost "found" base materials of music and exploring the possibilities, and then rising above the mundane interpretations to find something higher, something more sublime. I've heard him do this with a wide variety of sounds, from Mary Lattimore's harp, to punk- garage-rock guitar, to avant-jazz trombones, to his own electric piano,and he's always made it work somehow. Standout performance was probably at St. Mark's Church during Big Ears 2018, but all his performances have been great. Despite the risks his totally improvisational sets take every time, I haven't yet heard him fall flat once.
Favorite track: Like Hell Broke Away.
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