Buffalo

“Buffalo” was the fourth and final Spotify single from Phil Cook before the release of his Appalachia Borealis earlier this month. A blues singer and multi-instrumentalist who is in constant demand as a session musician and collaborator, Phil and his producer brother, Brad, also contributed to my favorite album of 2024, Tiger’s Blood by Waxahatchee. My first encounter with his music was a few years after I graduated from college. I experienced soul expansion by slide guitar through “The Jensens,” a track from his 2013 EP. So it piqued my interest to learn that his latest offering would contain piano compositions. Phil retreated to the Piedmont region of North Carolina and drew direct inspiration from the birdsongs around him. He even recorded voice notes of their vocalizations to accompany him as he improvised and later in the studio. You can hear an imitation of their trilling in the opening notes of “Dawn Birds” and the eponymous “Appalachia Borealis.” (Seriously, could there be a more perfect album feature for this blog?) Without having that context for the album as a whole, I envisioned something in motion—steady, flowing, and formidable—like a rushing river or waterfall, when I listened to “Buffalo” for the first time. Conveying that kind of aliveness with only a pounding rhythm and simple melody is a feat. Rather than focus on the city itself, the music video captures the stark white but insistently kinetic energy of a Great Lakes winter.

Nelson, Evelyn. “LIGHT DANCES ACROSS THE KEYS: ‘Appalachia Borealis’ Brings New Meditative Sequence From Phil Cook.” Volume One, 21 Mar. 2025, https://volumeone.org/articles/2025/03/21/359973-light-dances-across-the-keys-phil-cook-appalachia-borealis-album-release. Accessed 30 Mar. 2025.