Beauty is a word that comes to mind when listening through to Thunder Follows the Light the third album from Mutual Benefit, the name that Ohio's Jason Lee works under with a cast of changing musicians. Because it's a beautiful record pure and simple and one that evokes the contemplation of natural landscapes, and trying to figure where exactly we fit into all that.
The record flows remarkably smoothly as a suite of songs, Lee comes across as an easy going Sufjan or a less spectral Jonathan Donahue and each track ebbs and flows with calm precision, taking inspiration from a range of sources, (Elliott Smith and Bon Iver probably figure in the mix too), but making what amounts to very much his own thing.
Think Nick Drake too, as he was one of the absolute masters of the communing with nature ambience. There's an overwhelming calm and assurance to the album that builds towards the creation of an impressive and composed work of art.
Timely too, as Autumn is falling and it's good to come across an Autumnal record to soundtrack this. Thunder Follows the Light seems destined to be that album in 2018 for me. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Bring it on!
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