Spencer Kilpatrick - Dog Run 
Release Date: Out Now
Like an old friend who is hard to track down, when Spencer Kilpatrick comes calling you'd better clear your diary and be ready to drink some beers. The beers in this analogy are the 12 lush tracks on his latest collection, 'Dog Run'. We start with the ambient guitar noodling of 'Amangiri Meditation' which is the warm up before 'Migraine' starts to find the groove of downtrodden blues with Kilpatrick's husky vocal part soothing balm and part troubled soul. Similarly, 'Nothing To Lose' hangs off the kind of riff that seemingly goes nowhere but before you know it you're fully along for the ride as he sings "temperature burning and my stomach still churning, seems like I've lost the plot".
The blues lament of 'To Be Young' has a slight grunge tinge to it but also the nostalgia of youth and love at first sight while 'Walking & Minding' takes the sax for a lazy stroll by the river as the sun starts to fade. On 'Worries' the clean guitar tone rings out beautifully and is matched by Kilpatrick's voice which sometimes sounds like it's from another era but the clarity of the recording shows how up to date it actually is. 'Rach's Blues' features the titular heroine Rachel McElhiney on sax for a smoke filled dive bar vibe before 'Last Time' gives us one of the more up beat tracks on the album with road-trippin' vibes and chugging blues riff to die for.
This is definitely one of the most introspective albums in Kilpatrick's back catalogue is perhaps best suited to late summer listening, 'Chapman's Poem No. 2' is a great example of this as the spoken word is matched by harmonics and fluttering melodies plucked out on a guitar. 'Hold You (Alt. Take)' is a sparse and cinematic slice of late night heartache and longing set to a single plucked strong before 'Small Western Judgements' goes all Tarantino with a Louisiana twist. The album closes out on 'Meditation No. 3', a slow jam that builds on a circular riff to create a pleasingly chilled vibe to end on. One of the many, many things I love about Spencer Kilpatrick is that he just makes music like he's breathing - it's got to be done for him to live whether there's a crowd, a record label or a huge following on social media or not. Oh, and he also creates awesome T-shirts.
More information: https://www.instagram.com/spencer_kilpatrick/
Listen/Buy the album: https://spencerkilpatrick.bandcamp.com/album/dog-run