Australian guitarist Darren Cross’s last album, 2024’s Glookies Guit, was a ‘weirder’ record than his previous, with industrial sounds and ambient field recordings interspersing his signature acoustic guitar instrumentals. Open Guitar (Volume One) is a return of sorts to a simpler sound and has been made to encourage and celebrate peace and openness (a very valuable message these days).
A blend of painstakingly learned tunes and improvisations, played on three instruments ranging from flea-market unbranded acoustic to a high-end, custom-made beauty, there is subtle variation across this set, and it is interesting to try to discern which music is composed and which improvised, let alone which instrument was used. That said, Overlapping at Christophstrasse/MediaPark must have been performed on the swish instrument, given the quality of notes coming from the guitar and the balance of the playing. Or maybe Darren is just a damn fine musician…
To accentuate the openness of the sound Darren is going for here, there are still occasional examples of field recordings, like the bird song and neighbourhood sounds that introduce Antwerp Kangaroo. This calming beginning is soon replaced by closely layered guitars giving the impression of reverb and picking a meditative song that feels pure and spacious. Although one of the shorter pieces here, this one feels like it very much encapsulates Darren’s concept, with a lovely melody and repetition creating a light environment.
Also Key to the album is NEVER GIVE UP OR IN., a song well over twelve minutes in length and with the double-layered guitar sound giving the impression of a twelve-string and evoking a suggestion of Robbie Basho or Jack Rose’s calmer moments. Like Antwerp Kangaroo, at the core of this piece is a sense of calm and space, especially near the halfway point, where little string bends and hammer-ons gently twist the space around the notes, creating a beautifully minimalist soundscape. It’s a lovely track, and could be twice as long without getting tired.
Jump off the Edge into Darkness is another longer song, clocking in at eight and a half minutes, and this one has an improvisational character (although I’m not entirely sure it is), with a looser picking pattern and a more immediate nature. With a pacing that softly veers between meditative and, briefly, almost urgent, plus delicate shifts down the fretboard, there is perhaps a less contented feel about this song that nicely contrasts much of the music before it. It is done very delicately, just a suggestion, but creates a point of interest that slightly alters the mood of the piece.
And it is this lightness of touch that is present across Open Guitar, and that shows it comes from an artist very much in control of his craft. This is an album that feels open and honest; the emergency sirens briefly permeating the live recording of Ehrenfeld Summer Nights, which finish the album, feel significant: there can be calm in chaos. Open Guitar offers a sense of peace through the beauty of instrumental acoustic music, which feels like an important and welcome gesture.
Open Guitar (Volume One) (December 5th, 2025) No Drums Records
Bandcamp (Digital/CD): https://darrencross.bandcamp.com/album/open-guitar-volume-one