Black Duck ‘Black Duck’ LP

Limited orange vinyl.
 
‘Black Duck’ captures a band already deeply in tune with one another. The three- piece supergroup consists of Douglas McCombs, Charles Rumback and Bill MacKay. Each has a distinct musical voice that is instantly recognizable yet blends seamlessly with one another - their time performing together, playing to the moment and reading each other and the spaces they’re in formed a fluency between the trio which allows them to follow each other down winding paths and short tangents alike.
McCombs is a founding member of Tortoise, Pullman, and Brokeback, and the long- standing bassist for Eleventh Dream Day - an artist whose contribution to the music world can not be overstated.
MacKay began releasing records in the early 2000s. He has released several acclaimed solo albums with Drag City, as well as a duo album each with Nathan Bowles (Banjo, Black Twig Pickers), and Katinka Kleijn (Cello, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)), and two beloved records with Ryley Walker.
Rumback burst onto the fertile Chicago improvised music scene in the early 2000’s. His fluid technique and expressive playing garnered him much attention. In addition to his solo releases, Rumback has recorded with Ryley Walker, jazz greats such as Jim Baker, James Singleton and Greg Ward.
Black Duck’s debut is a testament to that fluency, an expedition led by three veterans into alluring worlds bathed in myriad splendours. ‘Black Duck’ is a gallery of sonic tapestries, unbound by any genre constraints. Black Duck redefine what two guitarists and a drummer can do; pieces move from breezy shuffles to stormy blues rumbles to gorgeous textural drones.
Playing entirely improvised live sets for years helped develop the trio’s acute senses for one another, knowing precisely how to listen to the others and bolster whatever direction they move in. In the short time the trio have played together, they have performed at Big Ears Festival and alongside acts like Yo La Tengo.
“The first single, ‘Of the Lit Backyards’, is a lovely guitar-led instrumental slathered in tremolo and wistful vibes, drifting and halting with its own unique sense of momentum. I can absolutely imagine it soundtracking a scene in an indie film...” - Stereogum
“As McCombs completes his solo explorations on ‘VMAK’, the music carries him back to his long-perfected sweet spot: as a critical cog in a machine of guitar- centered magic, reading the room for just the right moments.” - Pitchfork
“[Charles Rumback], a veteran of the Chicago free-jazz scene, can make a drum set sing - exploring melody and timbre within his gleeful grooves, treating each ride cymbal and brushed snare like its own voice in a choir.” - Relix
“[MacKay] locates the sublime in the mundane... finds something special in what we see around us every day, and that may be fundamentally what folk music is all about.” - Pitchfork
Available to independent retailers on Orange coloured vinyl.
 
Catalogue number: THRILL582LPX
Condition: New
Label: Thrill Jockey