Ryan Driver - Feeler of Pure Joy

Ryan Driver has real musical pedigree: if there was any justice in the world, his band The Silt should have done for alt-country what Pavement did for American indie. Instead, Driver is one of those musicians who is spoken of in reverential tones, and passed amongst friends on CD-R mix-tapes, a treasured secret known only to a select few. Feeler of Pure Joy moves Driver closer to mainstream pastures, his jazz-country guitar work and left-of-centre vocal approach being edged aside in service of more immediate artistic communication. The highlight is album opener You Are Beside Me, which sees Driver dueting with alt.folk darling Jennifer Castle, a pairing that manages to sound serene without being sickeningly twee. There is no doubt that this is a hangover album, with its layers of innovative guitar work begging to be unravelled while your brain is fuzzy from the night before, ready for music that unobtrusively seeps into your soul.