An Album a Day #2026-21

Brad Allen Williams Light Rivers drawn enormous inspiration from the past. The guitar tones, the organ, the drum sounds, all have a vintage rock vibe. But it's more retrospect than nostalgia. If you focus too much on the vintage aspects, you're like a passenger who spends an entire road trip looking through the rear-view mirror. Except you're not in a car. You're on a rocket careening towards the stars.

Light Rivers takes old sounds in a new direction. The first track, "laika," drops us into a driving 7/4 hard rock situation with references to Mahavishnu Orchestra, Rush, and tool. On "satellites are spinning" we're treated to some art-house rock and some excellent vocals by Fay Victor that take us to the upper extremities of the atmosphere where instead of peace we find a chaotic minefield of metal.

My favorite track is probably "novæ," a ballad. It's full of tone painting that, to me, sounds like a lone astronaut drifting through a stellar nursery: the drums, bass, and an acoustic guitar are coordinated to sounds like little explosions, the synthesizer pad fills the background like a cloud of gas and dust, while the lead electric guitar, playing the role of the astronaut, reports back to mission control, full of awe and wonder.

Light Rivers is a cosmic journey. Williams' loads us onto a rocket and then blasts us into space. It's a one way trip: the themes in "novæ" are reprised in the albums final song, "sartorius," where Williams leaves us out there, floating through the galaxy.

Listen

What is "An Album a Day"?

Each day in 2026, I'm listening to an album that:

1. I've never heard before
2. Was released in the last six months (from the time of listening)