Bowery Boy Blue’s Dying Waves captures the New York City rock quartet in their prime, delivering ten songs developed together on the road and performed with the lean angularity and clarity of purpose that results from such a manner of creation. Drawing from influences such as Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Elliot Smith, and the Pixies, the band has developed a sound equally footed in Americana, folk, and noise music. The combination of singer / guitarist Zeb Gould, drummer Christian Rutledge, bassist Michael Trepagnier, and multi-instrumentalist Sam Crawford packs a musical and emotional punch that’s not to be missed. Recorded by Jake Belser at Farm Fresh Studios, a studio built in an Indiana country church, the band was able to set up together in one room and refine and expand upon the arrangements they’d developed together on the road in a space that could truly capture the intricacies of those performances. Additionally, Dying Waves expands on the textural augmentations of its predecessor, Stalk That Myth, with brass arrangements from Michael Kapinus (Magnolia Electric Co.) and string arrangements from Megan Gould (Jenny Scheinman, Lou Reed, Donovan) as well as a panoply of pump organs, percolating synths, tack pianos, live vocal processing, and other such textures. The added warmth of Kate Long (Early Day Miners) on harmony vocals completes this rich sonic landscape. As a writer well-rooted in literature (Stalk That Myth was a reinterpretation of Sartre and Greek myth), Zeb Gould’s lyricism does not disappoint on Dying Waves. The record is a collection of vignettes and character portraits in the style of Raymond Carver or Flannery O’Connor, capturing personal moments in the wake of great devastation or impending violence. In these songs, that which is left unsaid bears a heavy weight; Gould says as much in “Long Grey Blade” when he writes that “Human hearts can be sailed upon, but they can never be understood”. The final combination of all these sonic, lyrical and performative elements results in a captivating record of broad dynamic range that can transcend both the violent and sublime to get to the root of the human experience. Captured beautifully by Michael Trepagnier’s mix (in keeping with his past work with Philip Glass, Leonard Cohen, and Coldplay), Bowery Boy Blue’s Dying Waves is a series of portraits in troubled times that is not to be missed.