Two enigmatic musicians from two sides of the Pacific come together for an amazing tape on Perpetual Doom. The songs are (mostly) courtesy Portland outsider/insider musician Lee Bagget, also known as that mean guitar that’s the secret to folk project Little Wings. There’s a few by/featuring Graves (Greg Olin) as well. The arrangements are all Blind Dead Timmy, a Japanese multi instrumentalist who is clearly incredibly talented and uh, that’s all I know about him really. I like the mystery, although BDT if you’re reading this shoot me an email. There’s also a new collaboration between the two, “At The Foot Of The Mountain. “

Some of my favorite Lee Bagget songs like “Just A Minute” are reworked into entirely new beasts, several of which I enjoy more than the original. BDTs new versions are more rootsy and dare I say, twee? Like a log cabin Tenniscoats. The record captures the shared melancholy of My Little Airport and Blind Willie Johnson.

There’s some psychedelic strangeness here as well. They’re both phenomenal guitarists and tracks like “Anyway” and the instrumental “Dark Matter” enjoy both of them playing, with particularly heady results. Plenty of drones and tones stimulate the edge of my hearing in a pleasant way.

Strings Across The Water is one of my favorite records of 2023, an unexpected surprise that’s already brought me a lot of joy. I have a cassette and it’s lovely, as is all physical media I’ve received from Perpetual Doom. They’re likely sold out but go buy something else because they deserve it.