Ancient Songs Of Burlap Heroes (Pyroclastic)

Nate Wooley & Columbia Icefield

Released July 28, 2022

DownBeat Five-Star Review

YouTube:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kBxCYIWhSWENOwcvrwZTcMumcaO10wn00

Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/0PXARy1fU4OOTuV1A3UuTk?si=znEqEI_5RF6ZbvLFqhhvSQ

About:

This album is dedicated to those who recognize living as a heroic act: the occupiers of sunup barstools; the cubicle-planted; the ghosts of Greyhounds; the reasonably sketchy. A burlap hero is one who marches—consciously or not—back to the sea in hopes of making no splash, who understands and embraces the imperfection of being, and in that way, stretches the definition of sainthood to fit.
Nate Wooley (February 2022)

Track Listing:

1. (…) (Nate Wooley) 02:07

2. I Am the Sea That Sings of Dust (Nate Wooley) 15:51

3. (…) (Nate Wooley) 02:49

4. A Catastrophic Legend (Nate Wooley) 15:01

5. (…) (Nate Wooley) 02:57

6. Returning to Drown Myself, Finally (Nate Wooley) 10:37

7. (…) (Nate Wooley) 06:59

Personnel:

Nate Wooley: trumpet

Mary Halvorson: guitar

Susan Alcorn: steel guitar

Mat Maneri: viola

Trevor Dunn: electric bass

Ryan Sawyer: drums

Recorded October 14-15, 2021, at Oktaven Audio, by Ryan Streber

Mixed by Ron Saint Germain

Mastered by Scott Hull

Photographs by aAron Munson

Design: July Creek, Spotswood Erving

Producer: David Breskin

Review:

The Columbia Icefield is a vast glacial structure in the Pacific Northwest. Nate Wooley, originally from Oregon, has been contemplating it in music for two albums now. The first release by his Columbia Icefield ensemble arrived in 2019, arranged for quartet: his own trumpet, Mary Halvorson on guitar, Susan Alcorn on steel guitar and Ryan Sawyer on drums. This second release reunites the original four players but adds Mat Maneri’s wavering viola and Trevor Dunn’s rumbling, post-metal electric bass to the mix. This album also focuses on three extended pieces, one nearly 11 minutes long and the others between 15 and 16, but there are also four tracks labeled “TK 1,” “TK 3,” “TK 5” and “TK 7,” which blend the music with field recordings and the sounds of truck engines and planes flying overhead. This is intensely beautiful and contemplative work, full of heart-stopping solo and duo passages, often spotlighting Halvorson and Alcorn more than the nominal leader, as well as powerful, almost hard rock crescendos. The nature sounds place it into the context of life and the world, though of course it’s all part of a large and elaborate illusion. The studio recordings are impeccable, and treated with subtle effects to surround the listener. Meanwhile, some of the nature sounds are blown-out and distorted, as though overpowering the microphones.

Philip Freeman (DownBeat)