Duke Garwood - The Sand That Falls

Duke Garwood is no stranger to out-there assignments. The South Londoner’s meandering career has seen him add guitar embellishment to The Orb’s debut slice of ambient space exploration, play sax with the Archie Bronson Outfit and entertain sleazebags during a residency in a Vietnamese dive bar. It’s hardly a surprise, then, that his latest solo opus sounds as though it has been piped in from Pluto. Spindly shards of fractured guitar are backed only by the ominous beat of a bass drum while Garwood’s breathily distanced vocal style bolsters the unsettling mood. The framework yields surprisingly fertile rewards. Opener May I Rumble makes like a grungier Bert Jansch while I Bared My Chest is a meditative beauty with added gospel hums and a bicycle bell (really!). The album errs towards atonal faffery on too many occasions to win unconditional praise, but Garwood’s singular journey is certainly one worth keeping an eye on.