The Third Eye

The Third Eye is catching up on new releases as we turn the page to a New Year, and one record that’s been on repeat comes from Island House Recordings. Tim’s label left us a final gift for 2024 with the December 21st release of Precession of the Equinox by Ultisol, an engrossing collection of ten instrumental tracks that melds the worlds of musique concrete, American primitive guitar playing, and ambient drone.

Precession of the Equinox is the debut record for Ultisol, the work of Georgia-based multi-instrumentalist Daniel Lamb. Lamb’s fingerpicking guitar-playing is at the record’s core, fusing with ambient and electronic experimentation that flows like rivers through otherworldly soundscapes. Ultisol has been called an “Appalachian Mogwai,” a fit descriptor that gives a sense of the type of out-there instrumental music he creates.

Lamb has quietly built his identity as Ultisol since 2021, sharing a handful of tracks on Bandcamp that hinted at the marriage of haunting ambient atmospheres and American Primitive guitar melodies. Precession of the Equinox elevates that early promise into a fully realized statement.

Lamb teamed up with Brooklyn producer Dale Eisinger for the record, who brought in an ensemble of collaborators to amplify the project’s extraterrestrial sounds. Across the ten tracks, modular synths, ghostly white noise, melancholic cello, field recordings, and achingly beautiful pedal steel drift in and out like an ominous mountain fog. Lamb’s guitar work remains the anchor throughout the record, guiding listeners to an ever-expanding horizon.

Lamb’s guitar echoes John Fahey but is stretched across an expanse of cosmic noise and experimentation. Each track reimagines the American folk tradition, retaining the earthbound forms yet reaching for the infinite. A delicate optimism is interwoven among the record’s most desolate moments—like a flicker of light at the edge of darkness.

This fleeting sense of hope feels uniquely American (especially these days), capturing the tension between yearning and despair. We should also note that Precession of the Equinox is one of many terrific experimental instrumental records recently from the Appalachian region.

Artists like The Modern Folk Trio and Magic Tuber Stringband are others who are taking the sounds of Appalachia and applying modern and experimental techniques to create something truly unique. Ultisol can be added to the short list of the premiere independent artists making this type of music.

I also wanted to note the unique quality of the track titles on Precession of the Equinox, including names like “Intermittence” and “Noesis.” I’m not sure why the track titles fascinated me so much, but I found myself looking up definitions online while listening. 

For example: “Intermittence” is a noun that means the quality or state of being intermittent, which means coming and going at intervals. The word “intermittent” often has connotations with the natural world, as it can refer to a stream or body of water that seasonally appears or disappears or rain that falls “intermittently.”

I won’t bore you with more etymology, but plenty of the other track titles have interesting definitions if you go down that rabbit hole. “Terminus” is a word that comes directly from Latin and has a fascinating origin in the Roman Empire.

Like the track titles, Ultisol’s debut record is food for the mind and soul. At times harsh and melancholic, Precession of the Equinox travels down dark mountain highways but provides glimmers of light for the journey ahead. Add this new one to the growing ambient country scene, where experimental instrumental music provides the soundtrack to wide-open spaces in America and beyond.

Check out Precession of the Equinox by Ultisol on Bandcamp here.