\n<\/p>\n
\n\tSteve Gunn<\/a> was sitting in the kitchen of his Brooklyn apartment, long after midnight, when he wrote the title track for his remarkable new album, Daylight Daylight<\/em>. The words came easily, tumbling out gently over finger-picked notes: \u201cDrive down to the lake, it\u2019s not hard to find\/Water\u2019s cold, sun continues to shine\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHe didn\u2019t think the song was finished, but it was getting late, so he put the demo aside and didn\u2019t listen to it for another day or two. When he did, he was struck by what he heard. \u201cI felt like I\u2019d captured something,\u201d the soft-spoken songwriter and guitarist says now, on a Zoom a few days ahead of the album\u2019s Nov. 7 release. \u201cA sense of impending doom, but also a sense of peace, and finding hope within this chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tGunn was starting fresh at the time after releasing three albums on Matador Records between 2016 and 2021. Those years brought a new swath of fans to Gunn\u2019s meditative folk and rock sounds, showcased on low-key masterpieces like 2019\u2019s The Unseen In Between<\/em><\/a>. But that was always only part of what he did, coexisting with farther-out instrumental explorations<\/a> and improvised work of many flavors, and now that chapter was over.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019d been freeing myself up from a lot of things, and I wanted to make a record that reflects that,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted to step out, be a little more independent, restart my process of songwriting.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWorking on his own at home, he demoed songs like the wonderstruck \u201cLoon,\u201d inspired by his experience hearing those birds\u2019 high, haunting call on the northern lakes of New York\u2019s Adirondacks region<\/a>. \u201cI related to the sound that they make at night,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s so melancholy and beautiful. I became fascinated with them.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOther songs, like \u201cNearly There\u201d and \u201cMorning on K Road,\u201d thoughtfully consider themes of death and rebirth. He wrote the latter song after a chance encounter with an old friend he hadn\u2019t seen in a while. \u201cWe hung out for a few hours,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a beautiful time. When he was walking away, I felt this heaviness. And he passed away shortly after that.\u201d<\/p>\n