Panic Sentry

Much hay can be made from delving into weird terms like “folktronica” or “freak folk” or anything that doesn’t immediately fall into “acoustic guitar is being played.” The goal with pushing folk music into its nth degree is to play with limits, to futz with tradition, and often times to unsettle the coffee shop Sunday morning playlist makers. 

Take Panic Sentry, an album by Brian Mumford’s project Dragging An Ox Through Water. This is deceptively skeletal folk music for busy minds. Oftentimes it feels as if two songs are playing at once: the bones of a guitar and Mumford’s soft yelp of a voice, and a layer of synths and ambience often coming from instruments Mumford himself made. “I Don’t Understand What You Like About It” is a heartbreaking motorik strum made more uneasy by discordant violin. “False True Love” and its sweet duet continuously are in danger of being trampled by low end buzzing. “Mole Song” feels as though it’s about to break into magnificent noise, and when it finally does the results are pure bliss.