The Howard Hughes Suite - High & Lonesome (2022) [Hi-Res]

Liner notes: The Age of Virus. In a time of face masks and plexiglass; lockdowns and furloughs, I have no doubt that I was not alone in becoming even more stressed and anxious than usual. Though insomnia was stealing my nights, I was able to channel this exhaustion into something positive, and the results from this intense episode are here on ‘High and Lonesome’. Composed, recorded, and mixed in June 2020; the whole process became a cathartic and calming experience, and I hope this will be true for listeners of the album too. Perhaps the very absence of sleep is the invisible, guiding hand that authored and informed these sonic dreamscapes and their ethereal narratives; an aural aid in the art of losing yourself, surrendering and letting go. Everything you hear on this album was created by using pedal steel guitar as the sole/soul sound source; at times unrecognisable, but always affecting. The album's title refers, in part, to the 'high lonesome sound' - "...An expressively emotional, powerful and earthy style of musical expression associated mainly with bluegrass, old-time and country music, characterised by unmetered music ...". To my ears, though, the 'high lonesome sound' is best conjured by the keening cry of the pedal steel; an aching, melancholic weeping, yet paradoxically remains uplifting.

1.01 - The Howard Hughes Suite - Flow State (3:58)
1.02 - The Howard Hughes Suite - Reverie (3:23)
1.03 - The Howard Hughes Suite - Slow Motion Pictures (3:15)
1.04 - The Howard Hughes Suite - Transcendental Medication (22:28)
1.05 - The Howard Hughes Suite - Lake of Dreams (6:26)
1.06 - The Howard Hughes Suite - Desert Spirits (4:28)
1.07 - The Howard Hughes Suite - Hinterland (9:40)