Universal Light is a brand new project that stretches the boundaries of expansive American string music.

The band is a power trio of improvised string masters, with Mike Gangloff (Pelt, Black Twig Pickers) on fiddle, Jesse Sheppard (Elkhorn, The Heavy Lidders) on guitar, and Kaily Schenker (Solar Hex) on cello, harmonium and vocals. The group met back in June at Gangloff’s Virginia home and let loose on some airy open jams, emphasizing space, texture and the droning qualities of their chosen instruments. The liner notes refer to Universal Light as an idea and a musical process, so what you’re hearing on this record is Universal Light happening in real time.

Between the three artists, a great mandala of groaning, twanging sound is created, and upon that cycling base of wooden music, each instrument occasionally breaks off and leads the jam into new directions, patterns and melodies, before returning back to its main root. The album’s three sprawling pieces shift, ebb and flow like a restless amoeba of bowed strings and sharp fingerpicking.

This record is more elemental than bluegrass, and more avant-garde than your average folk music, and yet it’s a moving and deeply approachable listen. The blend of guitar, fiddle and cello sometimes sounds like wind rustling through rippling seas of wheat or creaking forests. This environmental quality is only heightened even further by an audible backing of birdsong leaking onto the tape during “Lullaby > Summer Field.”

Aspects of classical, old time parlor music and droning American Primitive music can be felt coming through the album. There is a beautiful marriage of musical traditions of the past and present here, especially on the traditional “The Squirrel is a Pretty Thing,” which also features some spellbinding vocals by Schenker. This melding of styles and sounds is somewhat similar to the likes of Eight Point Star (another Gangloff band), Norman Blake and Joseph Allred, among other likeminded artists.

Serene, rustic and even occasionally intense, Universal Light’s self-titled debut is a must-have for any fan of the individual artists involved. Get your copy on vinyl (limited to 100 copies) today.

-KH