Dean McPhee: Astral Gold

While there has been a slew of folk-laden finger-picking guitarists to spawn from underground scenes all across the world, it’s fair to say that none have sounded like Dean McPhee.

Over the last two decades, the Bradford-based electric guitarist has created sonic sketches that are as distinctive as anything from this milieu. Whilst inspired by the locality of his Yorkshire base, joining fellow Northern underground voices such as Keeley Forsyth, Jim Ghedi, and Anne Garner, McPhee’s cosmic wanderings lend themselves more to the orbits rather than any damp northern terrains.

In that sense it makes McPhee’s creations rather outer-church, and perhaps he’s never been so outward in showing this on his fifth and latest release, Astral Gold.

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A series of tracks nagging with subtle nuance and emotional weight, the aptly titled Astral Gold makes its mark rather swiftly. Following a similar path to his previous two releases, Witch’s Ladder (2021) and Four Stones (2018), McPhee continues to explore new ground within his sound world.

Whilst Astral Gold includes several now out-of-print tracks originally released on labels, Reverb Worship and Folklore Tapes, alongside two brand new cuts, McPhee still manages to create something that feels woven through the same patchwork.

Recorded live in single takes, the voyage begins with Cosmos. While McPhee is a clear student of folk music, here his galactic meanderings colour outside of lines of kraut rock and slow-motion psychedelia. Ideas not a world away from those explored by Ben Chasny via the latest Six Organs of Admittance release, The Veiled Sea.

On the likes of Ether and Lunar Fire, McPhee adopts a new brand of spatial folk, seeing through a similar lens to Chasny but forming his own pictures and interpretations of it. Essentially, it’s emotionally driven loner folk taken to new places.

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Meanwhile, Neptune is a feedback-riddled improvisation filled with sharp reflections likened to watching the sun over the horizon. Improvised sketches that are a sharper version of the free movement normally associated with the likes of droneroom.

And with that, things are complete with Astral Gold’s longest track, The Sediment of Creation. With deep, metallic echoes and heavy bass weight sinking into the grooves, this is a wandering clarion call to those who simply like their sounds left of centre.

What McPhee showcases on Astral Gold is a fresh interpretation of electric guitar improvisation. Whilst reverb and bass have always been fundamental components to his creations, McPhee manages to conjure up a form of metallic space folk that cuts deep with emotional force. Those who quickly became attached to Elizabeth Still’s excellent 2023 release, Going For Home, will find another new ally here, and while McPhee may adopt similar tools to his contemporaries, he has an uncanny knack of producing results vastly different to anyone else out there.

Astral Gold is out Friday via P & C Bass Ritual. Purchase from Bandcamp.