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Reviews

Carl Weingarten — Songs for a Perigee Moon
(Multiphase Records MP-CD136, 2025, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-03-14

Songs for a Perigee Moon Cover art

In full disclosure: I’ve been a fan of Carl Weingarten’s music since I first heard his album Pandora’s Garage back in the early 90s, sent to me as a promo among several recordings on Kit Watkins’ Linden Music label, followed up by The Acoustic Shadow which Weingarten sent for review directly; both of these were exceptional and unique examples of guitar-driven Americana informed with elements of world fusion, chamber, jazz, electronics, and much more. A live appearance at some long forgotten bookstore up in San Francisco pretty much sealed the deal. I worked my way through all of his albums that I could find, enthusiastically going backward and forward in time as they were released in all the years since. With Songs for a Perigee Moon — his first album of new material since the 2022 EP Stop Me Try, Weingarten has tapped into an explorative world of daydreams and natural imagery, where one might imagine themselves next to a running stream, or feel the sunlight filtering through the leaves of a tree overhead, where a warm breeze triggers long forgotten memories, and echoes from the future reach deep into the listener’s soul. Or perhaps just staring up in the night sky at a perigee moon, that point in the moon’s slightly elliptical orbit where it passes closest to the earth, appearing to an observer on the ground to be much larger than usual. He has assembled a group of top-shelf musicians to masterfully execute his vision across the ten compositions at hand, including Kit Walker (piano, synthesizers), Michael Manring (fretless bass), Celso Alberti (drums and percussion), Jeff Oster (flugelhorn), vocalist Katy Stephen, and at least a half dozen others who accompany Weingarten’s acoustic, electric, and resonator slide guitar, as well as some keyboards, delays and effects. Opener “Ember Nights” seems to be a follow-up to the title cut of his 2021 album Ember Days, the embers referring to the wildfires across California that year. “Rise of the Perigee Moon” co-written with acoustic guitarist Pat Duffey features beautifully effected guitar solos with delays and effects that almost seem like a violin at times, or crying at others. With “Silvana,” a powerful lead line shines through a gentle backdrop of fretless bass, subtle percussion, and sparkling keys. Every piece here offers brilliant compositions and arrangements, creating those many special moments where the sound follows the imagination home.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Michael Manring, Carl Weingarten

More info
http://carlweingarten.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-a-perigee-moon

 

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