Alan Licht: Havens

Esteemed guitarist Alan Licht returns to the VDSQ label almost a decade after his instrumental acoustic record, Currents (2015), bringing his mesmerizing style of droning and driven minimalism back to the electric guitar on Havens. Combining electric and acoustic guitars, Havens embodies stasis and motion all at once as each piece gradually unfurls, in flux between rapture and contemplation. Licht takes his time on these pieces, some which extend beyond 10 minutes, allowing motifs to expand and wither away organically. Compared to the straightforward intimacy of Currents, this album is more expansive with its thicker, varied textures, increased room sound, and incorporation of mellotron and vocals. While the propulsive title track and “Frank Sinatra Drive” feature chords moving tautly around a tonal center in washes of hazy electric guitar tone, “Five Chords and a Sword” and “The Daily Sit” harken back to his lilting acoustic tracks of Currents. Outliers include “Nonchalant,” a fingerstyle epic that builds its texture brick by brick, and “1970,” closing the record with Licht’s acoustic approach filtered through the electric guitar. Although Havens abandons the homogenous, immersive sound found on Currents, I appreciate how Havens feels like an exemplar of all the facets and nuances of Licht’s standout playing and composition.