Israel Nash: Rain Plans
Israel Nash (Gripka) put together Rain Plans, his third album, after moving from New York City to Dripping Springs, Texas, outside of Austin. Just how that drastic life reset affected the music is more implied than blatant, as Nash never sounded all that much like a city boy on his earlier releases anyway. That said, there is an easy-rolling, outdoorsy, relaxed feel to the songs here—an airy wide-openness—starting with “Woman at the Well,” which would have fit comfortably on Neil Young’s Harvest, and running throughout. Songs like the title track and the album-closing “Rexanimarum”—rich in pronounced acoustic strums, mourning pedal steel, layered harmonies and Nash’s inviting lead vocals—give Rain Plans an alluring ethereal, ruminating aura.
