Magic Tuber Stringband: Needlefall (digital, Thrill Jockey, March 2024)

This record from North Carolina duo Courtney Werner and Evan Morgan defies expectations, in a rather wonderful way. The opening track, A Dance On A Sunday Night, is pretty much straight-up hoedown-ready Appalachian folk. The next track, Days Of Longing, starts off in similar mode, but then it seems to start kind of looping in way that hints at minimalism, and then these strange dissonant elements creep in. Things go fully experimental on the third track, The Hermit’s Passage, which feels a bit like an improvised interlude from some avant garde art rock band in the eighties, only with different instruments. Elsewhere, we get more folks, but also hypnotic minimalism, drone, and jazzy clarinet. The closing number, Piney Woods Burn, brings all these elements together to a swooningly satisfying finale. And here’s the thing: I love it all, from the “straight” Appalachian bits to the most out-there bits. It’s a heady experience in places, but somehow it works.

I bought this from the band’s Bandcamp page.