Jeremy Engel – Roam Like a Wave (self-released)

Jeremy Engel – Roam Like a Wave (self-released)

October 25, 2024

If many people who use acoustic guitars can easily be categorized as folk guitar players, even a label as vague and generous as this isn’t big enough for the music they play Jeremy Engel might. Sure, “Roam Like a Wave” is a song with an acoustic guitar at its heart, but that’s where the similarity ends and, as always, it’s those extra tones and textures, those sonic inclusion and extra-musical lines that make the difference. And it is they who make angels something other than an ordinary folk player.

It’s not too much of an invitation to the listener to view this less as a mere listening experience and more as a sonic journey in which Engel’s music takes us by the hand and leads us through all genres and regions. And although it begins in a relatively recognizable Western folk place, as the strings rise to indicate a new direction, we are transported through lilting Spanish guitar riffs, gypsy violins and hints of North African arabesque vocals.

But as much as the song traverses landscapes, both sonic and physical, it also looks inward in its lyrics, pondering themes of resilience and self-discovery, and contemplating how we live many lives and walk many paths in this period of time that is assigned to us.

While folk music often talks about traveling, with “Roam Like a Wave” we have a song that gives you the feeling that it is actually taking you along paths less traveled. It’s less about the sound of music and more about the soundtrack to the adventure.

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