Nice to hear the first solo LP in a good while by this most excellent guitarist who also runs the superb Scissor Tail label.

Dylan writes, “I made the title track a couple years ago at the beginning of summer. I was thinking about how as you get older you have fewer new experiences. That feeling of excitement for summer fades, after it used to be such a big deal as a kid. Those experiences can only be new and vibrant once. The rest of your life can be spent in nostalgia for them. It’s a sad thought and maybe not true for everyone, but I suspect it is for most. The album is a sort of ode to that Stand by Me vibe of childhood. Which’s a big part of why Cody M Lane’s photograph of the kid skateboarding in cowboy boots hit me so hard. That’s a thing I’ve seen multiple times here in Oklahoma over the years and it cracks me up, but is also just a perfect photo in my opinion. All of his photography really captures my latchkey childhood — wandering around the streets all day with friends, not a care in the world.

“The recording process was spaced out over 12 years. I compiled these songs around a theme although they weren’t recorded with a theme in mind. My songs are usually extracted from longer recorded improvisations, then expanded. Some tunes like ‘Good Directions’ and ‘No New Summers’ were just made in one shot without overdubs. The track ‘Buoyant’ is me playing bowed upright bass and layering some found sounds and field recordings I’ve made over the years. ‘Light Peeking Through’ and ‘Unanchored’ are pedal steel songs. For ‘Unanchored’ I found a way to process my steel to sound like cello and oboe so, after lots of layers of classical instruments, the pedal steel sounds like an orchestra. ‘Light Peeking Through’ is another pedal steel song I recorded several years ago. When I met Gary Peters I asked if he might want to add to it. He gave the tune more low end and put in some very cool chords, adding more dissonance at times. I think it took some of the twee out of the song. A result I liked a lot.”

We like all these songs a lot. Dylan’s approach to composing and playing involves hybridizing American Primitive, folk, country, soundtrack and avant influences into a unique & powerful alloy. Spinning the record is nothing short of a goddamn trip. Transportational music of the highest order. Get some today.

–Byron Coley, 2025

Dylan Golden Aycock

Releases

No New Summers