ALBUM REVIEW: Oren Ambarchi – Shebang!

Drag City

Released: 30.09.22

Oren Ambarchi – peripatetic improviser and voracious collaborator – has been in fantastic form for a few years now, and Shebang! is a worthy addition to his catalogue. Starting out with tentative, rippling guitar and finishing some 35 minutes later with an extended passage that feels like a beautiful release, a much-needed deep breath, Shebang! calls to mind everything from The Necks to Pat Metheny’s As Wichita Falls to Silent Way-era Miles, but still sounds unmistakably part of Ambarchi’s journey.

There are contributions from the likes of pedal steel legend BJ Cole and the gloriously ubiquitous Jim O’Rourke, with Ambarchi’s guitar working in mysterious ways throughout. Shebang! is a lesson in sustained, shimmering tension and demands your time and a good pair of headphones.