Audiopile Review: Blue Lake follows up his breakthrough LP, 2023’s Sun Arcs, with a mini-LP that’s apparently a warm-up for an as-of-yet officially announced full length due later this year. Weft continues down the same path that Sun Arcs initially set us on—the dusty Americana of his roots in Texas blooming through the Nordic ambient-jazz renowned in Denmark and Sweden, the two locales where he now lives and records. Even though not much has changed since his last, it’s still an exhilarating intertwining seemingly oppositional styles, merged together in a seamless fashion that is still unlike much else happening right now. Each track begins with a simple enough refrain, lulling your ear with looped acoustic guitars or the rustic plucking of his homemade zithers, and eventually he’s joined by his bandmates on cello, percussion or woodwinds, resulting in slow stacking miniatures that eventually swirl far above its humble origins. While it does seem like there is a level of coordination taking place here, the fluidity and looseness of the half dozen players generally feels spontaneous or improvised, each instrument dissolving into one another in a drone-like, ineffable vibration. Rustic but elegant, no one does it quite like Blue Lakes. If this is a taster for the next album, we’re surely in for something special.

Blue Lake’s new offering ‘Weft’ sees its creator Jason Dungan unearth new musical terrain with a mini-album which presents the projects evolution. Finding inspiration in the craft of weaving and embracing a collective spirit as a band leader, all while readying a new studio album expected later in 2025.

The earthy title track ‘Weft’ emerges with a sense of ease and familiarity as looping guitar riffs in open tunings bed in around a warm cello pulse that provides the essential heartbeat. These interlinking parts align to create his most explicit version yet of an American writing country music in Scandinavia. Dungan named the release ‘Weft’ as a reference to the weaving practice of his partner, Danish visual artist Maria Zahle, whose work “Torso” is featured on the album’s cover. With her works providing a constant source of inspiration to his music and practice as an instrument-builder, Dungan found a symbiotic connection between their mediums, which is reflected in the music on ‘Weft’.

A unique element to the overall sound was an acute focus on first-takes and favouring instruments seldom used in previous recordings: piano, melodica, 12-string guitar. Three out of five tracks were fully or mainly recorded live, with the exception of ‘The Forest’ (originating in Andersabo, Sweden) with the rest recorded at his home studio in Copenhagen, during Winter 2023/24. Layered acoustic guitars slowly build and shape-shift, met with zither, piano, flute and clarinet flourishes. Even the faintly audible sound of Dungan’s own breathing all combines to form an endlessly morphing tapestry of shapes, forms, and colours with endless depth. Three key components form the tangible makeup of ‘Weft’ as Dungan reasserts his skills as a “songwriter”, whilst further developing his “live” practice, interplayed with the “studio” acting as a compositional space to investigate, re-shape and find final form. As we arrive at ‘Oceans’, a folk counterpart to the opener ‘Weft’ Dungan floods the listener with his own form of storytelling, but again, one told without words. Built from a single nylon guitar, some wisps of extra guitar and plucked cello bass – a narrative evolves triggering personal associations with a vast expanse. A reminder of the human strands ever present at the core of his writing.

‘Weft’ is a collection of new works that casts a net into new sound territories with distinctive timbres yet always channelled through the refined lens of Dungan’s prism. Infused with an ongoing connection to nature, it furthermore expands his unique meld of off-kilter folk, jazz, country and left-field experimental ambience. ‘Weft’ then is an accomplishment of growth, of bolder objectives and of collaboration with like minds. The Blue Lake project takes a dynamic step forward venturing into new creative spaces while leaving some clues along the way.

Mixed once again by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, The War on Drugs) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).