Dreamer’s Motel

Joachim Cooder took his time to emerge from his father’s shadow but it was a family apprenticeship well-spent, playing percussion with V M Bhatt, Buena Vista Social Club and on half a dozen Ry Cooder albums. His own solo debut appeared in 2012 and eight years later came Over That Road I’m Bound, which found him reinventing the songs of Uncle Dave Macon on mbira. Dreamer’s Motel is Joachim’s most fully realised set to date, the unusual textures of his electrified thumb piano transcending the Americana, folk-rock and indie influences on which his songs draw to create something that defies easy categorisation. The melodies twinkle, the lyrics are smart and Joachim sings engagingly from the gospel-tinged country of ‘Godspeed Little Children of Fort Smith, Arkansas’ (which wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Ry’s Prodigal Son) to the elegant sunshine-pop of ‘Cool Little Lion’ via the twisted mutant blues of ‘Down to the Blood’.