Steve Gunn & Mike Cooper – “Saudade Do Santos-o-Vehlo” from Cantos de Lisboa (FRKWYS Vol. 11)
For the 11th installment of the always outstanding FRKWYS series from RVNG INTL, the label paired young gun (pun intended) Steve Gunn with the (somewhat) legendary Mike Cooper. The result was the mostly meditative, somewhat blues-y Cantos de Lisboa. As you can hear below on the stretched out and languid “Saudade Do Santos-o-Vehlo,” the duo spend a good chunk of the record venturing into Fahey-style acoustic ambiance, a warm and seductive cacophony of intertwining guitar melodies. Occasionally they bust out some dusty blues or ragged singer-songwriter material, but those moments seem to lack the intimacy and power of when they let their guitars do the speaking for them. You can grab the whole LP by following the bandcamp link below.