Album: Jason Lytle, Dept. of Disappearance (Anti-)

Jason Lytle's second solo album continues his debut's fascination with his reclusive Montana existence, but here that fascination is used in the service of an overarching concept about escape and disappearance.

At the heart of these songs is a desire to remove oneself – “I'll fall into obscurity, a phantom of the landscape, a memory of what used to be,” he sings in the title-track – mirrored in several songs by the less welcome absence of a girl, missing presumed dead somewhere out in the mountains. It's a gently moving meditation on the effects of solitude and nature on the soul, set to Lytle's characteristic blend of chugging guitar grooves aerated by bubbling synths and soothed by high harmonies.

Download: Dept. of Disappearance; Matterhorn; Get Up And Go; Gimme Click Gimme Grid