Paul Duncan: Above The Trees

Esoteric troubadour Paul Duncan dedicated his third album, Above The Trees, to recreating the exhausted, satisfied feeling of a long hike through a shady forest on a dewy spring morning. Mumbling his lyrics in a Will Oldham-style croak, Duncan sings about "The Fire" and the "Red Eagle," over dreamy acoustic music that mixes the elegance of swooping strings with the rootsiness of banjo and steel guitar. Duncan brings "folk music" back to its original meaning, connecting with tales passed down through generations, and perverted from truth to legend. Over the course of two songs called "The Lake," Duncan and his nimble musician pals create the sonic equivalent of vapor, while he murmurs like a memory.