Sam Amidon finds experimental tides on Salt River

Throughout this record, a steady vocal belies a complex layering of acoustic and electronic sounds. So many of these selected covers deconstruct into quirky, experimental instrumentals.

And he's a man with many hats – not only a songwriter in his own right (2008's indie-pop "Sugar Baby" is still his most popular song), but also a multi-instrumentalist who's collaborated with jazz-giant Bill Frisell, Ye Vagabonds, Tune-Yards, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and Jacob Collier.

Congrats are due to River Lea Records (Ye Vagabonds, Lisa O'Neill et al.) for signing him up. And he's actually in Ireland all the time. Last month he played at The Gate; late last year his dance and theatre ritual Nobodaddy sold out; he even made it out to Wicklow to record the video for "I'm On My Journey Home"; a recent Instagram post shows Ye Vagabonds dutifully purchasing his LP. Rumour has it that he plays live on their forthcoming album.

Salt River opens emphatically with the instrumental Grey Larson cover "Oldenfjord": we find Amidon in defiant-fusion-mode, with Gendel and percussionist Melanson bringing up the rear. The song is full of chops; a traditional guitar hook belies complex polyrhythms – with a 70s jazz flute playing over the top. The song feels like a statement of intent, as he pushes the boat out further than ever before.

"Three Five" constitutes a meditative keening song that feels oddly appropriate for these times. The tune reimagines an old hymn entitled "Old Churchyard". Gendal's synth blends incongruously amid the acoustics; the mantra is highly ambivalent, Amadonian in the extreme: "Come with me to the old churchyard [...]". This lyric floats and lingers over ethereal guitars that come and go like the tide.