ProStudioMasters.com

"Long Cool World finds Patrick McDermott ambling through the sparse outer reaches of the sonic world he’s cultivated with patience and care as the sole constant member of North Americans. Where previous albums are marked by numerous collaborators, Long Cool World is the work of a new duo iteration of North Americans, with McDermott joined once again by pedal steel mage, Barry Walker Jr., who first turned up on 2020’s Roped In. The peals and textures of Walker’s steel entwine with McDermott’s own gentle picking with a synergy that reveals each player to be of the same diamond mind." - Aquarium Drunkard North Americans-the project from Los Angeles guitarist Patrick McDermott and Portland's Barry Walker on pedal steel-release their album Long Cool World via Third Man Records. Long Cool World strips away most of the musical collaborators, allowing Walker and McDermott to settle on an approach that is at once intricate and simple, creating hypnotic music that loops and layers, with subtle shimmers of noise or quiet psychedelic freakouts hiding beneath McDermott's unshowy but emotionally affecting guitarwork and Walker's pedal steel hum. The duo refined their collaborative relationship as well, with McDermott sending isolated guitar tracks to Walker, who then listened to them while on drives and walks around Portland, before going into the studio with only a loose sense of what he wanted to add to them. Eventually McDermott and Walker came together to record the album, giving the whole thing a sort of free-flowing, naturally collaborative feel.