Ok, so the original idea behind what was named krautrock is to root itself more into European/German musical traditions, rather than the original rock concept born in America.
Well, it might have worked initially, but instead of just being a temporary musical fling, krautrock became a fully-fledged genre (its misnomer along the way too), and something that is now very often combined with other genres and musical traditions.
Yet, what about a combination with Americana, something that it was supposed to be in opposition to?
Well, that is something that Parker Millsap, a singer-songwriter from Oklahoma is trying to, consciously or subconsciously trying to research on his latest (sixth) album Wilderness Within You.
Of course, Millsap is firmly rooted in all the Americana roots music, and traditions and is well versed in them that he always shined within them, as he does here too. Still, it seems that he has picked up elements from krautrock here, and/or he has tried to find meeting points between these (seemingly) disparate musical concepts.
It is on tracks like ‘By And By’ and ‘So Far Apart’ that Millsap explores these connections in more detail and succeeds. The former has this Faust-like guitar fills, while the latter is like an Americana/motorik combination Neu!-style, while ‘Half A World Away’ picks elements from Can throughout. Quite a few other tracks here, go into this uncharted territory.
Yes, Wilderness Within You is actually a musical experiment, one that passes the test with flying colours.
