Verdigris

‘Verdigris’ returns to 3/4 time but at a slower, more measured pace than the earlier waltz tracks, and the difference matters. Where ‘Tumbleweed’ and ‘Rufous’ moved with urgency, this one has the unhurried swagger of a guitarist who knows exactly where every note is going. The lead electric guitar moves between quick articulate runs and longer melodic phrases that breathe and bend without showing off, and the rhythm section underneath keeps a groove tight enough that the waltz time never feels quaint. By track five, the album’s recurring use of 3/4 has stopped feeling like a habit and started feeling like a home key, a form that PCBender consistently finds new things to say inside. It holds attention across nearly four minutes the way the best Jeff Beck or Robben Ford records do, letting feel do the work that words would otherwise carry.