Shrunken Elvis - An Old Outlet (Western Vinyl)

The Slow Music Movement
Jul 18
2 min read

This is cover for Shrunken Elvis's self titled album of kosmische music, showing an abstract image with a light through a prism like blue, green, and yellow gradient. Text: "SPENCER CULLUM RICH RUTH SEAN THOMPSON" and "SHRUNKEN ELVIS".

Shrunken Elvis are Spencer Cullum, Sean Thompson and Rich Ruth - something of a Nashville outsider dream team, and individually, Ruth especially, no strangers to TSMM's pages and playlists.

Cullum is an acid-folk inclined pedal steel guitarist originally from East London, so probably more at home in Nashville than Stratford, Thompson is a local boy and grew up in the city's DIY scene rather than with its more polished country crooners, and Ruth, who I believe is also from there, is a bit trippier and improvisation inclined, having recently explored more jazz and kosmische avenues to stunning effect, hitching a ride with Third Man Records in the process..

They've all been hanging out in Nashville's back streets and backrooms for a while, but the project really came together in a VW whilst they were touring Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection album across Europe. Whilst the engine war running and autobahns traversed, music was shared, ideas were born and songs sketched, before getting laid down to tape back home in a Nashville studio. The self titled album is hitting the shelves on September 5th, via the ever reliable Western Vinyl.

Sean Thompson, Spencer Cullum & Rich Ruth sit on rocks outdoors, surrounded by moss and greenery. They appear relaxed and thoughtful, wearing casual shirts and jackets, with a natural backdrop. — (L-R) Sean Thompson, Spencer Cullum & Rich Ruth

"An Old Outlet" is the first single to emerge into the public gaze and the lads are off to a promising start, as is this song with its cosmically tuned synths and ambient Americana opening that provides just enough propulsion to nudge the song through the atmosphere and deep into space, so as to get a wide angled view on the human condition and its resistance to universal symbiosis.

Languid percussion provides an unhurried tempo for this ambient voyage of exploration as toad licked guitar refrains guide these cosmic musketeers to higher plains, but just as you're getting comfortable the trio unlock a parallel dimension and soar through it, heading unblinking straight to the light to unearth its truth and beam their far out discovery back home, before returning to their original course hungry for more knowledge. It appears the kosmische continuum is in safe hands, and I look forward to hearing about the rest of the voyage soon.