Lunar Surface Grey Vinyl.
On his 2023 release “Arc Of Day” Danny Paul Grody gathered an ensemble of musicians and gave us compositions that conjured not just bird-like flights but the supportive skeleton of a bird itself - intricate, delicate, but able to carry a body (or a listener) through bright, airy spaces. That same ensemble, since renamed the Danny Paul Grody Duo, now bring us "Arc Of Night" - a sister collection to "Arc Of Day", shaped from core collaborations between Grody and percussionist/drummer Rich Douthit along with additions on select tracks from Trevor Montgomery on electric bass and Chuck Johnson on pedal steel guitar. Though coming from the same musical bones as its sibling album, the darker tones and predominance of electric guitar on "Arc Of Night" evoke a different aviary figure - the nightbird. There are moments in these pieces that feel like stepping out at twilight as a single nightjar begins its song. Other voices soon answer, inviting us to say goodnight to sleep, to stay with them till sunrise. Other tracks give the feeling of waking at 3 AM - hearing a far off train, the wind, the deep drone of the hour, and above it all the cry of some nightbird hunting for companionship - or prey - in the darkness. There’s terror on "Arc Of Night", specifically the terror of not knowing whether one is awake or dreaming, but there is also comfort - the world, however dark, is still there outside the window, outside the ear, and even terror has its place in the flow of things.
Day will come but thankfully not yet.
-Donal Mosher-
