Recording: Justin Walter

Artist: Justin Walter

Song: Lullabies & Nightmares

Recorded at Monarch Tavern (Wavelength 575), September 24, 2013.

Justin Walter - Lullabies & Nightmares

Full review to follow. The last-minute cancellation by headliner Nat Baldwin kept more than a few people away from this Wavelength show, but it turned out to be rather exciting regardless. His tourmate Justin Walter did make it up and impressed with the unusual sounds of his EVI. The electronic valve instrument (looking something like a cross between a bong and a Nintendo controller) is a breath-activated MIDI device that looks rather like what the OMNI-reading public of 1983 might have assumed would be ubiquitous by 2013. Probably most commonly found in the jazz/fusion scene today, Walter's application was closer to the New Age-y end of ambient — these tunes sound like they could soundtrack some particularly abstract NFB nature documentaries. His impressive new album just came out on the Kranky label, and hopefully we'll have a chance to hear him around these parts again soon.