SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: MICHAEL GRIGONI & PAN AMERICAN – NEW WORLD, LONELY RIDE

MICHAEL GRIGONI & PAN AMERICAN
NEW WORLD, LONELY RIDE
KRANKY

When something leaning to the left-field side, particularly when instrumental music is concerned, yet at the same time uniquely beautiful comes up, it is a good bet that it will come up from the Kranky label. In that respect, it is no surprise that New World, Lonely Ride, a first-time collaboration between Michael Grigoni & Pan American comes from Kranky.

Grigoni, who here plays pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar, and dobro, and Mark K. Nelson, aka Pan American (founder of Labradford) who plays guitar, mandolin, and synthesizer, have created an ethereal slice of languid, slow-burning, instrumental cosmic Americana that rolls over the aural space like clouds in summer at all points escaping a trap of falling into aural wallpaper and actually being able to be both a listening and meditative experience of highest quality. No wonder that Grigoni also doubles as a professor of religion, ethics, and politics at Wake Forest University, and that Nelson still remains one of the most innovative artists within all things ambient.

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