Summer Water – Scott DuBois

Water is never truly still, even when its surface appears calm. Looking out over Lake Michigan, guitarist and composer Scott DuBois found in its constant movement a way of imagining music. During the winter of 2019, as Chicago endured some of its coldest days, he wrote the eleven compositions that would become Summer Water, an album that transforms the experience of observing nature into an exploration of what a single guitar can express.

The journey begins in the mist of “Into River Fog,” where each sound seems to emerge slowly. In “River Otters” and “River Driftwood,” notes begin to move, drawing closer before fading away, while “Summer Light on Rushing River” introduces an energy that contrasts with the opening stillness. DuBois creates these variations without overdubs, loops, or additional instruments. His guitar can evoke the breadth of an orchestra and, a moment later, reduce everything to an almost imperceptible resonance.

The album follows an unusual architecture: its first five pieces find their musical reflections in the final five. River and sea approach one another from opposite ends, meeting in “Storm Where the River Meets the Sea,” the composition at the center of this structure. The storm transforms the landscape, but it also changes how we perceive everything we have heard.

Summer Water invites us to discover how the same element can take countless forms without losing its nature. We can begin with the river or the sea, follow the current, or linger over its smallest movements. Whichever direction we choose, Scott DuBois invites us to listen with the same attention we bring to watching water.