The cover of L.A.-based, keyboardist Rusty Tinder’s soon-to-be-released sophomore album, Alchemy Road, is a depiction of a musician dragging his piano through floods and past wildfires, to the accompaniment of a fiddling horseman of the apocalypse. You could also say it’s a musical theme throughout the record. Tinder’s resume includes everything from church choirs and opera to jazz and alt-country bands. While there is some kind of limit on how many styles you can tap into for a record, there’s a little of a lot of things here.
With more time on his hands than his previous release, Tinder went to work with co-producers Mike Cionni and Blake English to produce something that’s not just layered, but practically 3D in how it weaves everything together. No Longer In the Gray is basically a folk song, but with a jazzy electric guitar that at one point veers into Dickey Betts territory. On Top Of the World is rich with piano and strings on top of a rock ballad that would have been at home on 70’s hit radio. Moonlit Kissed opens the CD with a heavenly choir before hitting the ground with a loping country beat and horns. It sounds crazy, but it works.
There are also some spiritually influenced songs included. Not like in gospel, but in the metaphorical sense of finding one’s path. Infinite Grace is an instrumental featuring harmonium and wind chimes to project an Eastern vibe. It leads seamlessly into Let Me Be Found, a power pop number about finding god, or god finding you. The album ends with Copper Penny Sun, an angst-filled lament that while “our mother rages again” we can’t get over our petty differences to save our world. It finishes with the sound of a chorale, and church marching band leading us to whatever salvation is ours.
Alchemy Road is one of those albums where you’re still hearing new things on the tenth listen. The press release for the project notes that with actual recording time limited by pandemic protocols, a lot of time went into thinking about how they wanted it to sound before actually putting anything to disk. That attention to detail really paid off, and Rusty Tinder should be on your listen stack for the summer.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.