Elkhorn - Sun Cycle / Elk Jam (2019)

“Two mind-bending slabs of acoustic and electric guitars, wandering into corners of acid-logic. Elkhorn is a duo—Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner—and these two LPs (released individually, but recorded more or less simultaneously) explore a whole warren of new style caverns.

Sun Cycle is closer to their pure duo sound (although guitarist Willie Lane and percussionist Ryan Jewell are along for the ride). Layers of pluck and soar and light percussion mix at the upper edge of the cosmic barrier, and Sun Cycle is, to our ears, Elkhorn's most adventurous and fully realized album yet.

On Elk Jam, Willie Lane and Ryan Jewell function more as members of a psychedelic folk-rock quartet, and the troupe takes things even deeper in a Bay Area-styled trip zone. Elkhorn are the true sonic dealio.

Instrumental music doesn't get much better than this. As Capt. Beefheart once said, ‘If you got ears/You gotta listen!’ We couldn't agree more.”