A little while back, former Hackman guitarist Darryl Shepard filled us in on some of his upcoming projects, and first among them was Blackwolfgoat. An entirely solo venture, Blackwolfgoat is just Shepard and his guitar running through ambient pieces that range from the more active to the eerily still. Blackwolfgoat‘s first album, Dragonwizardsleeve (I guess he’s got a thing for putting words together; who doesn’t?) is self-released and Shepard has just put some if not all of it up for streaming on MySpace.

What’s interesting in listening to a track like “Death of a Lifer” is the layering. It’s subtle, but Shepard is working with multiple tracks of guitar, the dip and pull of the notes he’s playing seems to undercut that, but it’s there, and like a lot of drone/ambient material, it does develop, albeit subtly. The cuts range from the 10-minute “Hotel Anhedonia” (anhedonia being a loss of the ability to experience pleasure), the basic riff of which could easily have been worked into a structured song, to the 2:46 arrhythmia of “Aspirin Forever,” which has an almost drum and bass feel to it, though one obviously still in development.

There’s a range of emotions and moods clearly on display here, which is refreshing given how much drone seems just an exercise for its own sake or a tryout of equipment. The distorted “Tinnitus the Night” is on the shorter end at 4:17, but nonetheless creates an unsettled atmosphere of worry, and the sweeter “Risk and Return” plays with light mathematics that seem to be trying to air positivity on top of light percussion. Shepard being a proven-capable guitarist and no stranger to working in instrumental settings, Blackwolfgoat can be engaged either on the level of audio wallpaper or active listening. Of course I’d recommend the second option, but either way you approach Dragonwizardsleeve, definitely be sure to keep Blackwolfgoat‘s MySpace page on your radar.

Tags: Blackwolfgoat, Malden, Massachusetts, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010 at 11:10 am and is filed under On the Radar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.