Cosmic Meditations: William Eaton and Don Slepian
William Eaton belongs to the second generation of guitar soli, a musical idiom of unaccompanied guitar music that devolved the United States from early efforts by John Fahey and those who immediately followed in his wake - Robbie Basho, Peter Walker, Leo Kottke, etc - pursuing a radical hybrid between American folk idioms, Western classical music, and a diverse number of traditions from across the globe.
Eaton, however, stands slightly apart from his own generation, most of whom tended to veer toward a more explicit form of traditionalism. His was an adventurous journey, riddled with experimentation and stretching toward the unknown. While sounding entirely distinct, his music presents a deep relation to the avant-gardism that lays unacknowledged at the very roots of guitar soli.
Morning Trip’s much needed reissue of New Dawn takes the broader consciousness of Slepian’s remarkable, pioneering contribution to the history of electronic music one step further. Comprised of two, stunning side long works, droning long synthesizer tones (Korg PS3100) rise and fall against rippling harmonics and ambience of a Mellotron and analog tape echo, sculpting a singular and immersive space which washes over the ear - the sound of bliss which carried a misunderstood form of radical hope into the darkening days of the Reagan and Thatcher years.
Wondering, engaging, and more creatively challenging than it first appears, the reemergence of Slepian’s New Dawn is a welcome addition to Morning Trip’s important and growing body of work. A brilliant sonic balm returning when we could use a bit of bliss.
An absolutely essential alternate vision to the standard narrative of experimental music, it is issued on vinyl for the first time nearly 40 years after its original release.
