Brooklyn’s Rhyton (Dave Shuford, Jimy SeiTang, and Rob Smith) are leading experimentalists and improvisers who draw inspiration from unexpected sources. The trio honed their skills in projects like No-Neck Blues Band (Shuford), Pigeons (Smith), and Stygian Stride (SeiTang), and all three have played a significant role in shaping a nationally impactful and enigmatic improvisation movement from New York. Rhyton is a trio devoted to exploration built on a foundation drawn from country, blues, folk and psychedelic sources.

The aptly named Redshift (an astronomical term for the displacement of spectral lines toward longer wavelengths often used to measure the otherwise immeasurable) finds Rhyton expanding its sound and defying expectations by creating a galactic country throw-down.

The title track, featuring Shuford’s rich vocals and singular lyrics, juxtaposes earthy, country rock against synthetic “alien” sounds. From the complex dissonance of “D.D. Damage” to the Greek-inflected groove of “The Nine,” Rhyton’s music challenges and delights. Shuford plays Greek folk instruments and explores new tunings and other ways of wrangling sounds from his guitar. At one point, he twists the guitar strings and plays it as one would play a snare. Smith studied with Bernard Lee “Pretty” Purdie, known for drumming with Steely Dan and Aretha Franklin, and the results are clear in Redshift’s driving and dirty grooves. Seitang’s chops are on full display as he connects the disparate dots seamlessly. On Joe Walsh’s “Turn To Stone,” it is easy to forget that Rhyton is a mere trio. Together, Rhyton takes Walsh’s guitar lines and dissect them at times, searing until they leap off into an extended improvisation that can only be described as otherworldly (psst … no, that is not a bagpipe, that is Shuford’s guitar fed into a nutso fuzz pedal through a Leslie speaker!).