Golden Loam

Using fingerstyle electric guitar and lap steel, Michigan-based multi-instrumentalist Premo plumbs layers of harmonic ambience, granular textural effects and the irresistible sway of the blues while staying true to a melodic core derived from original compositions and arrangements of traditional roots/folk repertoire. Self-produced and recorded during the pandemic lockdown of summer/fall 2020, Golden Loam is essentially a solo album, although on three of ten tracks she is joined by bones player Eric Breton (‘Jericho’) and percussive dancer Nic Gareiss (‘Hop High’, ‘Poor Little Mary Sitting in the Corner’). On ‘Hop High’, a popular song from the Appalachian region particularly favoured by clawhammer banjoists, Premo takes a down-tempo approach on hollow-bodied electric guitar, leisurely urged along by Gareiss’ shuffle-step. Playing just behind the beat, she bends the melody into a swirling dirge, crooning above the lo-fi jangle in a resonant voice that breathes sultry life into the girl ‘with them high top shoes.’ Switching to lap steel, Premo employs droning and thrumming reverberations to transform ‘On My Way to See Nancy’, a traditional fiddle tune by West Virginian Edden Hammons, into a gorgeous, contemplative dreamscape. Golden Loam is a distinctly adventurous and enthralling listening experience.