Lost Cities

When recording albums of new material, Ed Kuepper tends to draw on a community of musicians to back him, so 2015’s Lost Cities was a surprise, of sorts: it’s maybe Kuepper’s first solo album ‘proper’, Ed alone in the studio, playing every instrument, and producing. So, the drummer’s out of the picture – and Kuepper wisely doesn’t try and find other ways to fill that space, rather allowing the songs to float in amniotic textures, a muted blush of reverb and electronics. His guitar playing is at the forefront, and it’s beautifully nuanced, often very tender – on a song like “(It’s) Never Too Late”, both the guitar and the melody are disarming in their intimacy. It’s testament to the potency of Kuepper’s writing that the album never drags, or feels samey: this is no washy Lanois-esque bland-out, thankfully. In 2015, he ranked this album as his best, saying that, depending on how you’re counting things, it’s his fiftieth album: “In a way, it signifies the end of an era.” Here’s hoping there’s more solo Kuepper to come, but if not, what a gracious and moving way to bow out.