Nathan Bowles Trio debut new album “Are Possible” on Drag City :: 06/26
Southern sutras reverberating from one callused ear to the other. A backwoods mantra engulfed in good time rhythms, calcified dust, a mother’s memory and the golden glow of a stable farmhand’s afterlife. Pinching hues from skyward pallets where its horse hair brushes lean against busted trees surrounded by youthful piles of collected coin. Acoustic blood thins and rusts like creek water, its colors evaporating from ancient, ancestral swimming holes frozen with soft pulses below. North Carolina based multi-instrumentalist, teacher and all around guru of vibration, Nathan Bowles, has been creating music for well over a decade now. Having participated in groups and projects such as Black Twig Pickers, Pelt and Black Dirt Oak with members Steve Gunn, Sally Anne Morgan and the late/great Jack Rose, Bowles has carved his name in permanent, sedimentary stone for generations to come. His dedication to his craft is fierce, precise and incredibly accurate, while simultaneously expressing the true nature of history and our tumultuous relationship with its battered rage.
With past works such as 2016’s “Whole & Cloven” and 2018’s acclaimed “Plainly Mistaken” bringing the musician to levels of planetary nirvana, Bowles returns with longtime bandmates Casey Toll (Jake Xerxes Fussell, Mt. Moriah) and drummer Rex McMurry (CAVE) for the Trio’s highly anticipated, summer release entitled “Are Possible” on Drag City. A gorgeous collection of meditated atmosphere meets church of consciousness, the Trio brings an enormous effort to the surface with “Are Possible” as we begin to explore the remnants of culture, faith and patience within its melodic narrative. The album opens with a celebratory number entitled “Dappled” and swiftly connects with the first single, “The Ternions”. A walking waltz through shifting backroads and hidden grottos whose entrance depicts this caffeinated language only spoken from the hip. The album truly reveals the eclectic relationship between county and country before trailing off into a perform scented wind with tracks such as “Our Air” and “Top Bottom”. While executing ideas and on hand philosophies, the Trio truly captures the spirit of jazz, Americana, the Blues and its true nature exploring improvisational elements of song.
Finishing out with “Gimmie My Shit” and “Aims”, the message is absolutely clear with “Are Possible”. And while anything is, the work has to be put in for results both cosmic and actual. Set for release on the 26th of June on Drag City, the Nathan Bowles Trio has set out to demonstrate the radical magic of collaboration and community. “Are Possible” is a substantial collection of music that take its listeners to uncharted territories, whose journey into the melodic senses is only just the beginning.
