It is interesting that in the time between the release of 2020’s Summerlong and this year’s Earth Trip, there has been no new music from either Wooden Shjips or Moon Duo, giving the impression that the ease of recording the solo stuff as Rose City Band and the inherent themes of travel and escape are what is fuelling Ripley Johnson‘s creativity currently.
Earth Trip follows on to a certain extent from Summerlong, but if anything the vocals are even more wistful and the space in the songs is ever-present ,with barely anything of the fuzz and repetition for which his two bands are renowned. This stripping back of the cloak brings Ripley’s songs shining into the dusty sunlight, the kind of sunlight encompasses wide open spaces and sweeping vistas.
Although there are only eight tracks on Earth Trip, the quality and relative instrumental diversity in the genre plus the charm of the vocals and the overall feel of the album means that it is still a satisfying collection of tracks. The lovely, lonely echo of his voice is the glue that holds the album together, either through the slow and stately hymn to solitude that is “Silver Roses”, with its sunny, soporific and subtle drumming, or the rambling country sigh of “World Is Turning”, with its sense of motion and sweet mandolin break. “Feel Of Love” is a real slow one, and you can almost taste the dust hanging in the air as the pedal steel frames the view. The feeling of desire for escape permeates everything here. It seems as though all he wishes to do is travel and lose himself in the vastness, but not always in solitude. “Give me warm embraces, not a telephone”, is perhaps my favourite line and goes a long way to explaining that desire to be removed from the oversaturation of modern life; there is something in the wistfulness that is really easy to relate to and prevents things devolving into a straight collection of countrified tunes. The skipping rhythm of “Ramblin’ With The Day” is a delight and the easy charm of the harmonica-laced “In The Rain” finds his vocals imbued with something that reminded me of some ’80s indie vocalist, but I can’t put my finger on what.Things tend to change shape over the last two tracks and you can feel the recordings stretching themselves in the heat, slowing down and starting to meander. “Rabbit” gives a brief nod to the informality of the Shjips, but without the overloaded textures, and the final track with its muted guitar is charged not with a sense of urgency — that isn’t right — but maybe it is discovery, that drifting feeling that something unexpected is just around the corner. It leaves the album on a questing note that is pretty prefect.
Whether we see Ripley head back into company for a future album, who knows; but on the strength of these tracks, he hasn’t lost his mojo at all. If you fancy a dawdle into the desert, this could be your company.-Mr Olivetti-
