Ben Chasny

At the invitation of KPM Music, guitarist Ben Chasny (aka Six Organs of Admittance) whips up an emotive suite of psych-folk library music on "The Intimate Landscape". A sharp and lushly cinematic set of acoustic vignettes for fans of John Fahey, Robbie Basho et al.  Since the late 1990s, Chasny's name has been synonymous with the resurgence of American folk wyrdness that saw a grip of artists across the continent pick up where John Fahey and his contemporary accolytes left off. "The Intimate Landscape" is his umpteenth full length, but deserves special attention because it was original recorded for library music label KPM and was intended to be used as such. So we find Chasny in a particularly cinematic space, tying uncharacteristically positive acoustic guitar compositions around evocative riffs and ominous textural elements.  The album isn't simply a collection of loose studies, it feels like a selection of related themes - if we didn't know better we might mistake the album for being a complete soundtrack - and can easily be enjoyed from beginning to end. There's a cheerful positivity to these tracks that reminds of the mid-00s nu-folk boom and points to a future that just might be more hopeful than we think. Recommended.