Drew Gardner “Rabbit Ears” LP (Eiderdown)

Fifth solo outing by one of the founding guitarists of Elkhorn, who has also been an essential part of Jeffery Alexander’s Heavy Lidders. Gardner is the master of several distinct styles. He can grab the ring of psych-eternity with rare surety. He has versatile outward-spiraling
jazz chops. And I’ve even caught him playing a sort of avant doom metal like he was born Norwegian. I’ll admit I haven’t heard his last two albums (no promos I guess), but I’ll bet they’re pretty cool, since Rabbit Ears is a solid gas.

The band this time is a quartet. Bassist Andy Cush and drummer Ryan Jewell are still present, with the new addition being guitarist Tom Malach (who is Cush’s partner in Garcia Peoples) and the four tracks here are instrumental, loose and open.

I am reminded in more than a few spots of Jerome John G****a’s work of the early ’70s, both in his duos with Howard Wales on Hooteroll? and on the extended tracks from Skullfuck, which Lenny Kaye characterized as “pome tomes” in his Rolling Stone review of that set. Which
is not to infer there is anything lazily referential or anachronistic about the tunes. The band’s overall instrumental approach is as fresh as the just-torn veil of a psilocybin mushroom. But it is steeped in the tea of history.
There’s plenty of real melodic and rhythmic invention going on here, it’s just done within a framework players and listeners have been exploring for half a century now. This lends the tracks a kind of faux familiarity that makes them as comfortable to sink into as a scented hot tub.

You may have not heard them in this exact configuration before, but the notes documented here are all old friends and should be welcomed as such.

A fine and hearty slab. Dig in.
—Byron Coley