Eli Winter: A Trick of the Light

With a dexterity like the speed of a flashing blade, Eli Winter has been an underrated voice within the experimental Americana sound world.

Combining knotty arrangements with melodies that melt the heart, the Chicago-based Houston-born guitarist conjures up the kind of songs that take flight; the highest altitude, his excellent 2022 self-titled release that contained dream-laden soundscapes that made you feel like you could take on the world.

Three years on, and Winter returns with something the moves to even greater heights in A Trick of the Light. Six compositions that sees Winter backed by an all-star cast, each musicians’ contribution, a unique thread that the guitarist masterfully weaves through this beautifully crafted patchwork.

Opening with an arrangement of Don Cherry and Ed Blackwell’s Arabian Nightingale, Winter drags the piece out to over 14 minutes in what is a roadhouse rumble broken up into glistening fragments. Winter’s electric guitar and Sam Wagster’s pedal steel, meandering around Gerrit Hatcher’s tenor saxophone skronk that explodes alongside Tyler Damon’s percussion freak-out.

Wagster’s pedal steel continues to dominate on For a Fallen Rocket – a glittery inflection alongside Winter’s woodsy brushes across the strings, and backed by Damon and Andrew Scott Young’s steady rhythm section and Hatcher’s soft saxophone, the musicians occupy wonderful new corners.

On Cracking the Jaw, Winter draws influence from closer to home– namely from fellow Chicagoans Tortoise, but of course, he adds his own flavour, countryfying the origins of post-rock. Wagster’s pedal steel, wandering all the way to the horizon, and that loose roving feeling remains on the re-imagined version of Carla Bley’s Ida Lupino. Winter gives it an unintrusive, lounge band vibe, as warm distortion leaks through the speakers, and with Young’s meticulously arrangements underpinned by Damon’s tight percussion, the three add new dimensions to the piece.

That continues, as Winter takes us to the album’s highest point, firstly with the eponymous track. Alongside experimental guitarist David Grubbs and Mike Watt on lead bass, Winter creates the kind of metallic razor-wire sound that is fraught with tension; Luke Sutherland’s violin and Damon’s dislocated percussive blasts, like parting the storm clouds, and as those blue skies emerge, it’s a piece that harnesses the Dirty Three’s most emotionally charged moments.

Contrary to its title, Black Iris on a Burning Quilt is the song any artist dreams of writing. With joyous echoes that drift across the same vast lands William Tyler once explored, Winter conjures up something that gloriously ebbs and flows. It’s soul through composition. Democratic, spiritual resonance that imbues hope and solidarity and with yet another coalition of musicians – this time with Damon, Young and Wagster alongside clarinettist Alex McKenzie and Kiran Leonard on cittern – Winter closes the curtains on what is his most dynamic release yet.

In all its verve, pomp, twists and turns, it’s remarkable just how cohesive A Trick of the Light is. While Winter orchestrates something so rich in texture and deep in tone, with so many voices and nuances in musical language, it could have easily fallen short of the mark. It does anything but, though, in what is something that sounds full, vibrant, and bursts with energy. It’s the sound of Chicago. It’s the sound of the blue collar. It’s the sound of Eli Winter at the summit of his creative arc.

A Trick of the Light is out now via Three Lobed Recordings. Purchase from Bandcamp.