Song(s) of the Day # 3,076 Field Guides

 

July is here and I've already chanced upon a couple of really terrific new or recent record releases to greet its arrival. First, Gingko the latest from Field Guides, a project centred around Bendedict Kupstas.

It's immediately, from the off, one of those free falling, consciousness, state of the world records we've become used to this millenium from male American musicians like Sufjan, Bon Iver, Phosphorescent, Shins, Kevin Morby and countless others who build on the legacies of Dylan, Van Morrison, Cohen, Young, Nilsson and the like. The list is endless frankly.

The only label I can think of which seems approprate for this is 'Post Interne't music. Searches for personal  meaning, discovery and coherence in a universe which no longer seems to offer them. Looking back to forge forwards.

Gingko is one of the best recent examples of this genre, if such a thing exists, I've probably just made it up. It's a charming, formed and compelling record, probably best experienced at dusk or dawn.

Full of allusions to the classical and literary, it's an incredibly assured record, and one I knew immediately I'll come back to many times over the coming months and destined for the higher reaches of my end of year list which I've realised gets going in just a couple of short months.

Field Guides will certainly be there. Kupstas is a magnificent, self-contained talent and Gingko a wonderfully achieved artistic statement. Many thanks again to Darren Jones, who consistently directs me towards wonderful stuff on here, for the tip.