A veteran band leader of the last twenty years, and a songwriter of considerable output, Adam (Busch) Ostrar now presents his first solo record “River Of Bricks”, after a career spent at the helm of art rock ensembles The Curious Digit (Jagjaguwar), Manishevitz (Jagjaguwar) and Sonoi(Meno Mosso). Ostrar began writing “River Of Bricks” in a domestic haze, having halted band activity in favor of spending time at home with his newborn son. However, what was intended as a hiatus from music became a free pass for trying new ideas, with no external pressure to produce for an ensemble. Many of the songs emerged during a period spent studying guitar with African music scholar Nathaniel Braddock, who began teaching him a variety of finger style forms by way of repertoire including African, American Primitive, and British Folk icons Bert Janschand Davy Graham. While “River Of Bricks” has a gentler tone than Ostrar’s previous releases, it’s a more exploratory effort, resonating deeply in imagery and modal expression, while playfully experimenting with minimal arrangements. The result is ten intimate and immediate tracks, somehow simultaneously warm and stark, informed by, but not restricted by time spent alone. Much of the album channels Saharan timbre and British-folk traditions turned a bit on their side, subverted in favor of airy impressionism and continental drift. Songs such as “Tiger”, “Sister”, and the album’s closer, “Butterfly” naturally tend toward psychedelia, others, including the album’s title track and “Ruby”, burst open and break out with determined breath.

Tiger

Mother

River Of Bricks