On Julian Lynch's Terra, out the 26th of this month, there are two songs named "Water Wheel" (Pts. 1 and 2), a has-to-be purposeful nod to the oud player Hamza El Din's classic piece, "Escalay: Water Wheel." While this may sound willfully obscure, El Din played later with the Grateful Dead and Sandy Bull, and his bridge between lovingly meandering folk and traditional melody is exactly representative of the pocket where Lynch's music lives. "Back" is the last song on Terra and it hews closer to traditionally American with steeled vocals, hiking guitar and a moment of deep psychedelic organ. Overall, Terra is a measured, beautiful record, with bits of Eastern jazz, Western rock and the whole mellow mishmash between.
Download: Julian Lynch, "Back"