Woods Of Light - Newcastle Park

​Woods Of Light

Newcastle Park
self-released; 2024

TOP ALBUM

​By ​Dino DiMuro​

Woods of Light is the project name for Brian Gunther of Ottawa, Canada. His latest release is a concept album titled Newcastle Park, which has been in the works for quite some time. Gunther dislikes labels but says his music has been called acoustic / folk / Americana. The best Americana is always Canadian!

For myself, it’s been a while since I’ve compared a band to the Fleet Foxes, but it fits here. Gunther employs unhurried guitar melodies, lovely vocals and harmonies, and the occasional fuzz guitar topper. Like the Fleets, Gunther has a lot to say and takes the time he needs to say it, with most tracks over six minutes. Gunther states that his songs are autobiographical and include “recollections of people, places, and events that have shaped who I am as a person today.” Lyrical themes include his lazy 90’s youth, small towns, lifelong friendships, endless summers and transitioning out of childhood into an uncertain future.

Gunther recorded at home using Logic over a 9-month period. He explains: “I married open-tuned, finger-picked acoustic guitar with a warm, shimmering hollow body guitar sound, coupled with a solid rhythmic backbone. I like to describe it as my love letter to the guitar. I recorded this all myself one step at a time, and it was a pretty considerable amount of work overall.”
The album runs over an hour but here’s some highlights.

The collection opens with the almost 11-minute title track “Newcastle Park.” Without checking my player, I thought for sure at least two songs had played by the time it ended! This song is pretty much a template for Gunther’s style, which features note-precise overdubs of gently picked guitars and an earnest voice that recalls troubadours like Donovan or Tim Buckley. Lyrically Gunther takes it all the way back to his childhood, with vivid but distant memories of places like Newcastle Park (pictured in all four seasons on the cover). The care Gunther took in recording all the elements and his vocal harmonies is obvious in every note. When the crunch guitar finally makes an appearance toward the end, it gave me the same kind of thrill as the electric guitar in the Fleet Foxes’ “Helplessness Blues.”

“Virtue Hill” has a jangly quality not unlike the Beatles in their “Rubber Soul” days. The vocal harmonies Gunther hinted at in the previous track take full flight here. The guitar figures and melodies are constantly inventive and seemingly note-perfect. The chorus features pretty much the same chords as the verses but with a jolt of energy and stacks of new vocal harmonies.

“Blue-eyed Stranger” opens like a lullaby, with the guitar matching the vocal melody as it tells the story of a new love and all the magic that entails. Gunther waits almost four minutes before bringing in the drum kit, which shows his unhurried and careful pacing.

“Left Behind” bigly embraces Gunther’s folk rock-Americana tendencies. It’s another forward-motion pick fest with soaring harmonies and a sweet jangly chorus. For “Sunny Summer Avenue” I was going to mention it was the most rock-heavy track so far (in the same way as “Eight Miles High” by the Byrds or anything by Bob Mould) even before the wall of fuzz guitars kicked in.

“Hometown” has guitar and harmonies a bit like CSN but Gunther takes this opportunity to change things up, trying a few dissonant melodies and cross-purposed vocals. “Shadow Of Autumn” features foreground bass riffing that really propels the song.

The final track “Final Summer” is sung with a reverence that’s almost prayer-like as Gunther takes this final moment to end his story while still looking forward. Some of the guitars even sound like mandolins.

As mentioned, this is a long album with long tracks and I had to skip a few here, but that’s no judgement on their quality. This album has a consistent, cohesive sound and is consistently great. Bring it into your life!

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