Reticence (A.K.A. Aaron Riverwood) has returned with an album that continues to prove that some of today’s best cosmic guitar music is coming out of New England.
Based in Massachusetts, Riverwood channels the glistening stars, flowing rivers and ancient northern forests through his emotive guitar playing. His music never ceases to move and transport the listener, especially here and on 2019’s River Moves Through Snow, which was a favorite of mine that year.
The real beauty of This Time Might be The Golden One at Last, is that it allows you to experience the entire spectrum of Riverwood’s sound. From harsh electric storms (“Song for The Trees”), to hushed acoustic fingerpicking (“Golden Time”) and kosmische folk meditations (“Intersolsticial”), Riverwood displays both his versatility and his vast variety of skills.
One highlight on this multifaceted record is the somber opening track, which is a soulful acoustic instrumental called, “Black is The Color (of my True Love’s Soul).” There’s a raw and haunting quality to this song that you can feel deep within your bones. It’s a wise choice to begin the record with this song, as it prepares the listener for the album’s wide assortment of complex and achingly real emotions.
Other highlights include the very Eno & Cluster-like “For The Frozen North,” and of course “Horn and Sun,” which is a deeply hallucinatory tribute to Nick Drake. This tribute track actually takes some of Drake’s original recordings and processes them through a variety of effects, turning them into a sort of grand celestial ascension of the spirit. It’s a very heady, but moving homage, to say the least.
When you purchase a physical copy of the album (released by Reverb Worship), then you get a free download code for a companion album, Desire Paths, which is also an incredibly varied and fascinating listen.
Desire Paths often feels like the shadow of This Time Might be The Golden One at Last, or rather the ying to its yang. While still born out of the same creative energy, the songs on this album often head into more abstract and abrasive directions. Several tracks utilize distortion, darker tones and roughened drones, giving the album a decidedly darker tone than This Time…Deeply explorative and always unpredictable, this is an album you can really get lost into.
So if you’re a fan of Prana Crafter, Ashra and Matt LaJoie, then you need these albums in your daily life. You can grab them right here today.
-KH
Record Crates United 