Jake Xerxes Fussell – Good and Green Again

The result is his most conceptually focused, stunning and enigmatically poignant album to date. "Good And Green Again" is also Fussell's most conscious album, marking his fruitful return to a producer partnership after two self-produced projects, "What In The Natural World" (2017) and "Out Of Sight" (2019) (William Tyler produced his friend's 2015 self-titled debut). This time, James Elkington produced and played a variety of instruments, bringing his own unparalleled sense of harmony and orchestration, balance and dramatic tension to Jake's mysterious song choices.

The two brought in engineer Jason Richmond and a group of excellent musicians from Durham, North Carolina and elsewhere, including regular band members Casey Toll (Mt. Moriah, Nathan Bowles) on upright bass, Libby Rodenbough (Mipso) on strings and Nathan Golub on pedal steel. New additions include Joe Westerlund (Megafaun, Califone) on drums, Joseph Decosimo on fiddle, Anna Jacobson (various wind instruments) and Bonnie "Prince" Billy, who contributes additional vocals. If "Good And Green Again" sounds a little sadder and slower overall than Fussell's earlier albums, maybe we're all a little sadder and slower these days. A smoldering mood of regret and loss permeates the album, a distinct air of vanitas.

But three breezy instrumentals, all Fussell originals, punctuate the program, offering respite and light in the form of crisp, shuffling play-party tunes, each a bit more hopeful and exuberant than the next. Their resemblance to lullabies is perhaps not coincidental. Fussell and his partner welcomed their first child into the world while recording "Good And Green Again." These beautiful songs carry that promise in golden letters.