Lake Mary & The Ranch Family Band - Sun Dogs LP

Chaz Prymek’s ongoing Lake Mary project transcended the boundaries of a mere solo project long ago, having evolved into an ever-shifting collective of like-minded artists, performers and spiritual seekers with deep ties to Colorado’s Front Range and the sprawling Missouri plains. With a stunningly executed catalog of releases for labels like Eilean Rec., Patient Sounds International and Cabin Floor Esoterica, we’ve enjoyed watching [and hearing] their transformation into this latest iteration: Lake Mary & The Ranch Family Band.

A sort of unofficial follow-up to River Ceremony – the ensemble’s 2018 release for Keeled Scales – Sun Dogs traverses a similar, albeit more focused, aesthetic terrain. As always – Chaz honed the vision for these seven tracks during numerous tour dates and studio sessions, workshopping melodic ideas and transmogrifying his band’s raw improvisations into structured compositions.

From the elegiac slide guitar work of album opener “Holy Radio,” to the motorik underpinnings of the title track and the quiet, winding guitar solos that pepper the track list, the end result is a suite of chilled folk, drone and ambient jammers that perhaps stands as one of Chaz’s most completely focused musical statements yet.