PERRY, JORDAN - What Do You See Every Day?

"Another fantastic slab by Virginia-based guitarist Jordan Perry, whose style fuses disparate threads from the American Primitive and avant-garde songbooks into a unique alloy. For this album Primitivism has largely been eclipsed by avant urges. Still, there is one track, 'Days Have Gone By Volume' where Jordan is joined by guitarist Ned Oldham for a piece evoking Fahey in more than its title. But that is the exception. Most of What Do You See Every Day? is filled with abstractions for acoustic guitar. His work has a genteel aura and pacing in which free melodies are played inside the context of graspable rhythmic structures. This simultaneously highlights their weirdness, and dials it back contextually by having the music emerge in a clearly delineated flow. The act of not-rushing things has the effect of softening the potentially sharp edges of the sound. Jordan also plays melodica on a track, 'For Three,' which shimmers with a liturgical edge reminiscent of plainsong. He is joined on another track, 'From Traces What Do You?,' by wordless vocalizing from two Virginia singers, Diane Cluck and Devon Sproule. Their voices (plus Jordan's own) add an ethereal otherness that is quite lovely. As is the avian field recording on 'Five Hours.' But the bulk of the music is guitar-centric and beautiful off-kilter. There are little flashes of jazziness that make me think of some of Duck Baker's work, but only for a moment. There are also bursts that seem to parallel some of the experimental work Mike Cooper has been doing for last couple of decades. But, as usual, Jordan Perry is walking a path all his own. And it is a beautiful way to wander." --Byron Coley, 2023" - Feeding Tube Records.