Rust Dust — Diviners and Shivs

Rust Dust is a one-man folk mystery. His twangy blues guitars give his songs a veneer of vintage with some modern mystery. Armed with his his century-old National Resonator guitars, Rust Dust feels a bit timeless. His gentle picking of “Amazing Grace” to open and close the album signals Rust Dust’s reverence and respect for his source material. The body of the album, however, is a dirge-like swirl of blues, punk, and spoken word that are mired in alienation.

But maybe I’m overselling the blues stuff. It’s the resonators that give merge collapse the temporal distance between Rust Dust’s thoroughly modern preoccupations with casual sex, drugs, and the twin pressures of isolation and competition caused by social media with the similar concerns of our predecessors across generations. You get the sense that Rust Dust is resurrecting former bluesmen’s demons with his reedy voice, tinny guitars, and thunderous pronouncements.

The album is officially out on Friday, the 22nd. If you’re in New York you can catch the record release show at Freddy’s Bar and Back Room at 9.

Rust Dust — Facebook, Omad Records, CDBaby, iTunes

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