I really love the cover of Eli Winter's self-titled album. It's an unconventional vantage point of the iconic Chicago skyline, captured in a clearing along the shore in one of the many wooded preserves that dot the city's metro area. The image elicits a sense of exploration that hasn't lost sight of its place of origin or the purpose for which it has embarked. On the record itself, Eli collaborates with a rich roster of prodigious talents, such as Cameron Knowler, Yasmin Williams, David Grubbs, Ryley Walker, Tyler Damon, as well as the late jaimie branch, to blend wistful ruminations on American bluegrass and folk in a manner that dynamically revises their structural predispositions to invoke musing veneers of jazz, dream pop, and even noise rock. Suitably rugged but with an inborn tenderness, Eli's self-titled album finds direction and purpose through the alchemy of cooperation and the uncommon beauty that can be unveiled when you take an uncharted path back to a familiar place.
