Once Was Ours Forever is Jonny Nash’s 5th solo album. He’s clocked up a fair few more via collaborations with talented friends such as Lindsay Todd, Ana Stamp, Teguh Permana, Suzanne Kraft and Gigi Masin, but here the focus is Jonny’s own guitar playing. The tracks are all constructed from lush laidback layers of peaceful, patient picking and strumming. Both acoustic and sympathetic, synergistic, electric. The latter producing bending, romantic, swooning, pedal steel-like arcs. The effect like a very relaxed Vini Reilly. Intricate with echo. Rich with reverb. The vibe seemingly soaked in love. 

Fingers can be heard sliding up and down strings in these intimate, intoxicating recordings and mixed with synthetic, ambient textures. Several of the pieces feature washes of Jonny’s wistful vocals, where he sounds like Bon Iver doing Simon & Garfunkel. The fragile folk of Rain Song weaves the Japanese whispers of RVNG Intl. artist Satomimagae in between its fretless bass flourishes. Elsewhere there are guest appearances from cellist Tomo Katsurada and saxophonists Joseph Shabason and Shoei Ikeda. 

One highlight is The Way Things Looked, which recalls Robin Guthrie’s recent work, but undercut, caressed by a current of rushing, rippling Manuel Gottsching-esque flickering. Angel’s twilight tremolo touches conjure the celebrated, sunstroked, hammock-habituating albums of photographer Steve Hiett. With delicate flights of jazzy dexterity, Moon Seed makes like Michael Hedges on Windham Hill, Pat Metheny on ECM. The fretwork, though, is restrained, understated. An ego-free display of virtuosity. There’s no showing off. It’s all about mood and feel. As if Jonny were mediating through music. 

Jonny Nash’s Once Was Ours Forever can be ordered directly from Melody As Truth.