The Third Eye

Centripetal Force Records is presenting a unique musical journey with Cygnus A, a solo project by Drew Gardner. This album, available for pre-order now, promises to be a captivating blend of instrumental psychedelic rock music, set to be released on June 7th.

You may recognize Gardner’s name because he is one half of the excellent improvisational guitar duo Elkhorn. Gardner has also contributed to four Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders records and has his own New York City-based band, Flowers In Space. Gardner is a guitar player and multi-instrumentalist who plays improv-heavy, groove-based psych music that stretches across various genres. Cygnus A is his fourth solo release.

As you can tell from the description above, most of Gardner’s music over the years has been deeply collaborative. However, on Cygnus A, he plays and multi-tracks all the instruments, marking a shift in his approach and intention, drawing the audience closer to an inward listening experience.

Cygnus A has an earthy yet cosmic vibe, which you could say about many Elkhorn releases. Gardner’s solo foray explores themes of distance and nearness, with the album title referring to a distant galaxy that’s one of the brightest in the sky. Cygnus A’s broadcast from space comes from a supermassive black hole generating energy as it consumes material, causing electronics to emit radio waves as they spiral outward in magnetic fields.

I’m unsure what all this astronomical stuff means, but it sounds super-cool, right? I’m sure Neil deGrasse Tyson has written or spoken about Cygnus A somewhere, and he probably made it sound even cooler.

The album was recorded in Gardner’s home studio in Harlem, and it forms a suite of deeply serene pieces that create a soothing, mesmerizing, psychedelic flow. The tracks are named for our closest stars, and the album uses instruments best heard at an intimate range – the mbira and zither. The electric guitar still plays a role on Cygnus A, but Gardner steps away from guitar soloing on the record in favor of the celestial sounds of the zither. His ability to play various instruments runs deep and serves him well in guiding listeners on a cosmic journey.

Cygnus A’s hallmark is probably the use of the zither, which creates sounds that feel very New Age but rooted in the past. According to this post by the National Park Service, the zither became a popular folk music instrument in Bavaria and Austria in the early 19th century and later in the United States. You’ll likely find it just as much in a museum collection as at a local concert. The instrument is made of dark wood and features 44 strings and 46 pegs. 

I was also interested in learning that the earliest known surviving instrument of the zither family is of Chinese origin, dating from 433 BC. Similar instruments with the design were developed over the following centuries in Japan, Indonesia, Greece, the Middle East, and more. The increasing interest in “world music” has brought broader recognition of the zither in modern days, and many of the zither-like instruments have been sampled electronically.

The tone of the zither sounds divine and, to me at least, has hints of an Oriental sound. On tracks like “Castor,” the instrument is dazzling and is backed by the steady strum of Gardner’s electric guitar. “Pollux” opens the record with electric guitar before, once again, the zither slides in. The ticking beat that keeps time is what I assume is the other, more obscure instrument, the mbira.

“Polaris” is one of the longest songs at seven-plus minutes. After listening for long enough, the tracks meld together and sound similar, but this isn’t a bad thing at all. It’s more like how the album feels conceptually whole, like one long, intimate listening session from Gardner’s home studio.

Is it possible to be ancient and New Age at the same time? Yes, I think so. Much New Age music takes ancient concepts and gives them a contemporary spin. The same could be said with New Age philosophies, which are only a re-fashioning of ancient concepts as well. Don Miguel Ruiz didn’t really say anything new in his best-selling book The Four Agreements, after all.

This helps explain the charm of Gardner’s Cygnus A. This marvelous instrumental record simultaneously stargazes and ponders supermassive black holes while reaching back in time with rustic instruments and telling us to look inward. The kingdom of God is within us, and so is whatever astral energy we need, and this seemed to me the message of Cygnus A—not necessarily a religious message but something that felt deeply spiritual to me.

Cygnus A is recommended for listeners of Elkhorn, Francis Bebey, Alice Coltrane, and fans of worldly folk music. It’s an excellent record to take out to the country and stare at the stars at night, away from the light pollution of the cities. Enjoy!

Pre-order Cygnus A by Drew Gardner on Bandcamp here.

You can support Drew Gardner by finding him on Bandcamp, his official website, or Instagram.

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