Look, I get obsessed with records all the time. I write a column on an obscure music blog, it would be weird if I didn’t listen to a specific record multiple times in a day sometimes.

This is one of those times.

SQUANDERERS is a truly magnificent trio comprised of three singular musicians on the cutting edge of the avant-garde: guitarists David Grubbs and Wendy Eisenberg join forces with bona fide NYC madman Kramer in a striking display of what can only be described as the musical equivalent of world building. You just want to live inside these sounds, and you can even visualize what that might look like. Meandering from ominous and glacial to warm and thoughtful and everywhere in between, it’s an astonishing look at how patience and collaboration can lead to awe-inspiring places.

Music like this always gives me the urge to try and be overly descriptive with flowing prose and such; though I could certainly spend several hours of your time waxing poetic about sound manipulation, suffice it to say this is one of the most appropriate times to use phrases like “painting with sound,” as long as we’re talking about abstract paintings of course. The seven tracks (nine if you buy the LP) are expressions of different themes rather than actual songs (tracks are titled “Theme For [x]”) Though the themes are more or less without a concrete structure, they are not rudderless, and each theme does have its own identity. Ideas weave in and out, back and forth, but it’s never overwhelming, and even at its most exploratory, there is a definite calm to the whole experience, at least for me.

Whether this is all improv or not, I can’t say, but it certainly sounds like it. SQUANDERERS are debuting as a live act at Big Ears in March, a performance for which I could not be more fully torqued (Grubbs, Eisenberg, and Kramer also all play solo sets at the festival). I’m positive I will be reporting back with more details once I’ve taken in the show.

Anyway. Thanks for reading! This album is great for reading, meditation, lying down and listening to the rain (might be the ultimate rainy day record). I truly hope you enjoy this record as I found it transformative and inspiring.