Cole Berliner - The Black Door

The Black Door is the debut album from California guitarist and composer Cole Berliner, and his first release for Drag City. It is a cinematic set of instrumentals that frames acoustic guitar in rich, widescreen arrangements, the sound of a player equally at home with intimate parlor picking and ambitious modern composition.

Berliner builds these ten pieces around acoustic, electric and lap steel guitars, then opens them up with piano, synth, acoustic and electric bass, drums, percussion, violin, viola, horns and woodwinds. The results land in the lineage of contemporary guitar composers like William Tyler and Hayden Pedigo, where fingerstyle melody meets an almost orchestral sweep. Highlights like the title track, "Bongo Syndicate" and the closing "Death of Stars" move from hushed West Coast reverie to full-band lift-off.

Across its two sides the album balances warmth and strangeness, keeping the guitar at its center while an inventive cast of collaborators colors every corner. It is an assured, deeply musical introduction to a distinctive new voice.

Pressed on vinyl by Drag City (DC984).