ALBUM STREAM: Ryley Walker – ‘Primrose Green’

March 23rd, 2015

Nina Corcoran

On March 31, singer-songwriter Ryley Walker will be releasing his brand new full-length, Primrose Green, via Dead Oceans. It’s a highly anticipated release riding on the 24-year-old’s ability to create ’70s-style folk with mindblowing ease. If you’re a fan of Tim Buckley, John Martyn, or Van Morrison, give it a listen asap. It’s streaming in full over at NPR.

We’re already heard the impeccable jazz-influenced single “Sweet Satisfaction,” but the rest of the songs that follow suit are even more powerful. Ryley Walker uses Primrose Green as a springboard to let imagination come to life. The unplugged style of his playing sees him fingerpicking as someone who plays every day not because they have to, but because they want to. Walker is a musician who doesn’t know what a life without music is like. That decade-spanning knowledge is evident. William Tyler may be able to tell stories without using any words, but Walker tells sagas to re-tell to your grandchildren and burst out at parties. Primrose Green gets busy in the nooks of breezy folk and careful intimacy, opening up a world of blissful music that the Chicago-base musician may be single-handedly bringing back to its prime.

Give it a listen over at NPR.