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Musing
Somewhen
Grand Hand - 2023
Michael Panontin
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Musing is the instrumental vehicle of Devin 'Darty' Purdy, last heard from on these pages as the guitarist on Gone Cosmic's 2019 set, Sideways in Time. On Musing's weirdly titled debut, Somewhen, Purdy plays all instruments except percussion (handled here by Brett Whittingham), a task he says was the result of the isolating pandemic experience and a physical injury.
"I had this burning desire to create multi-layered guitar-driven songs that were not bound to a traditional song structure based around vocal melodies or hooks, but rather songs with the intent of the listener to get lost in the music," he recently explained to CM. "I was also very interested in picking up the bass guitar, synthesizer and recording tools for the first time and this was a great opportunity and challenge to see what I could do completely on my own as a musician and songwriter."
Purdy and co-producer Kiril Telichev - "a fantastic human to work with" - spent the better part of 56 hours at Calgary's Sound Priory recording and mixing Somewhen, and the results are obvious. "Kiril always pushed me to get the best takes and put in countless hours in the mixing process to get the absurd amount of layers and tracks sitting just right with each other."
Musing is definitely a departure from Gone Cosmic and their crushing, bone-throttling riffs. Put in terms of period touchstones, it's a bit like spinning an old Cactus LP on your turntable and then popping in a nineties-era post-rock CD.
Purdy's lithe guitarwork is all over Somewhen, and it is girded by some pretty solid - and heavy - drumming. Much of the disc - the thrilling closer 'Ghosts of Extinct Constellations' is probably the best example - is given over to moody, almost mathematical music. That's all good, but things definitely get more interesting when Purdy turns the intensity up a notch or two, as he does on 'Frontal Robotomy', a track that ought to thrill the heck out of fans of King Crimson, especially that deep resonating bass riff nearly four minutes in. Or the equally cool 'Flight to Forever' which cruises on a seemingly effortless motorik groove before easing up on the gas for the final couple of minutes.
Somewhen dropped in early November and is only available physically on limited 12" vinyl - just 200 copies pressed. You've been warned.
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