Cole Berlinger signs with drag city for debut album ‘The Black Door’

May 29

What lies beyond The Black Door? For Cole Berliner’s solo debut, he opens up an album-length sequence of musical transformation: rich-grained instrumental parlor music, blending the modes and vibes of country, blues, ambient and folk into one great ambient prairie.

"The Black Door" is a tune conceived as “an ode to the sweetness and darkness of memory, both in one’s immediate life and in the context of history,” as Cole describes. “The inspiration was drawn from the mystical sounds of American (and proto-American!) folk music and swing, filtered through the lens of heart-string pullers like Bert Jansch and Jim O’Rourke, and carved into something both personal and simultaneously universal.”

Call it rural chamber folk with its own sinister purpose! Fred Joseph's music video captures Cole and his humble axe in the Californian desert, shot in sepia tone for maximum atmosphere.

Initially conceived as solo acoustic guitar tunes, Cole's songs demanded the dynamics of an acoustic ensemble — a departure from his work with Kamikaze Palm Tree and Sharpie Smile. His arrangements form intricate passages for acoustic, electric and lap steel guitars, acoustic/electric bass, piano, drums, percussion, violin, viola, horns, woodwinds and synthesizers; Cole himself is on guitar and lap steel (plus synths and percussion on a few songs), mixing and co-producing alongside Cesar Maria. The Black Door's wider ensemble includes violinist Laena Myers, acoustic bassist Garret Lang, and drummer Dylan Hadley, plus Sofia Arreguin, Robert Earl Thomas, Michael Sachs, Sarah Safaie, Kilan Thorns and Cesar Hernandez.