Kinloch Nelson – Partly on Time: Recordings 1968-1970
Tompkins Square – 22 March 2019
This is another welcome set of tunes brought to the fore by the discerning Josh Rosenthal of Tompkins Square, following fairly recent releases from Duck Baker and John Hubert. There is a great tale behind this collected list which I hope is included in the sleeve notes to the hard copy of the album, featuring a radio epiphany, a car crash, a wrecked and repaired 60s Gibson J-50, a brand new Martin D-18 and, crucially, some sturdy surviving tapes strewn across the traffic lanes of the highway. The resulting album is, like the above pair, which are natural comparisons, understated and full of beautiful pieces of music.
One such example is the title track, which Nelson wrote with his school friend and guitar partner Carter Redd. There is a fluid finger-picked acoustic line flowing through the song keeping it grounded, but the slightly higher flat-picked (I think) guitar part is somehow optimistic and tear-jerking at the same time, especially with the minor key notes. It really is a wonderful piece of almost shy or naïve music, perfectly pitched and played by the two aspiring guitarists and fully contrasting the following track, ‘Funky Susan’, which was actually written before ‘Partly on Time’. Here the playing starts leisurely, with a slow harmonica coming in before the picking speeds up and the pair really find their groove. I especially like the guitar’s low notes briefly slowing things up and disrupting the pace; they give the piece a different dimension while linking the main body to these almost dream-like harmonica segments.
The majority of the rest of the record is made of solo pieces by Nelson, but there is no seam in the switch from duo sound. Indeed, the minimalist picking running through ‘The Fair Eyes of Molly’ sounds like two players duetting; in fact, this bold yet understated drone-like piece is one of my favourites here, showcasing the confidence of a guitarist who can run such a repetitive line through a whole song and keep it interesting and arresting throughout. And as the album goes on, you really hear these strengths in Nelson’s playing, his ability to create a line and keep it going through the tune while he also picks the melody. It is not showy by any means, but the technique is clearly there and his quiet way of going about playing these deceptively simple pieces of music is really something. The same can be said about ‘Company Leaves’, which manages to weave sadness and yearning into its structure, while slowly bringing in some light as the song develops. It is clever stuff and is nicely balanced by songs like ‘Tom Seibert’s Boat’, a brief and quickly paced number that undulates as well the water might.
Partly on Time sits alongside the John Hubert and Duck Baker records as another Tompkins Square release that should have been heard earlier. Kinloch Nelson is a skilled player whose technique and broad repertoire inform his modest and intelligent guitar playing. There is a lot to enjoy and admire and indeed return to inside this forty minutes of material.