Alabama-born, Marseille-based musician Turner Williams Jr. follows a well-received disc for Les Disques Ominson with a new long-player that continues to showcase his command of the shahi baaja ( a traditional stringed instrument mostly connected to Indian raga) while also launching his own imprint. We are broadly in the zone of American Primitive here - such instrumentation deployed by a US guitarist will lead us in that direction - though it feels somewhat reductive to only think of Williams Jr in regard to that well defined tradition. The parallel evolutions of cosmic Americana, ambient and new age also dovetail and intersect here, and though the label is keen to make connections with Virginia Astley and Ernest Hood, it's the Lost Coast of California's metaphysical underground and Fripp and Eno's interactions that are, fo me, best understood as the North Stars of Vipérine. Williams Jr's playing is skilled and expressive, and is driven by an open-ended intent, not unlike Jon Collin were his focus less storm-cloud laced and more pastoral reflection. All told, another beautiful set of recordings from an increasingly confident artist who appears to feel most comfortable blurring between the lines of tradition.
FFO: Eno & Fripp, Megabasse, Darrell DeVore, Jon Collin
