Earthwork

"A lot of this record is about memory and long stretches of time - not just making, but remaking, constantly tinkering." That's Daniel Wyche - a Chicago-based guitarist, composer, improviser, and professor - whose new LP Earthwork has been a long time in the making, depending on the jump-off point. The LP synthesizes guitar music and instrumental soundscapes, resulting in a nuanced, cohesive collection inspired by family, loss, and legacy that falls in between Japanese environmental music, free jazz, and modern classical. Wyche is as community-oriented as they come, being part of organizations such as Chicago's Elastic Arts and co-founding COVID relief initiatives like Experimental Sound Studio's The Quarantine Concerts, but that ethos carries into his music, too. Opening track "This Was Home" is a seventeen-minute testament to the meaning of place and the beauty of collaboration. RIYL: Midori Takada, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Terry Riley, Tom Carter, Dirty Three"1) This Was Home2) Earthwork3) The Elephant-Whale II