Being a part of some enormous underground, psych and drone ensemble and cohort hasn't exactly made the name Ben Reynolds a common name here in the states. But in his native England, while still not a chart topper, Reynolds has recorded with these groups attracting the attention of everyone from Will Oldham to the Incredible String Band. Most of these endeavors, though, have been full band settings with the guitarist getting only so much room to ply his craft.

The lack of acoustic recordings from this gentleman was remedied on the third volume of Imaginational Anthem series from Tompkins Square Records. While the disc wasn't a showcase for Reynolds, it sat his work next to a variety of folks playing in the same genre - Steffen Basho-Junghans for one. Again, that disc, while critically well received, found none its participants going on to make a million bucks.

Even if that probably isn't the point of Reynolds - or anyone on the compilation - recording music, a new full length entitled How Day Earnt Its Night from Tompkins Square will hopefully raise the guitarist's visibility in the eyes of Americans. With that being said, the disc, while showcasing Reynolds' talent, isn't too drastic of a departure from anyone else's work.

Having recorded in the past with Strange Attractors, Time Lag as well as Digitalis Industries, a proper studio setting isn't a brand new thing to this Brit. And while acoustic music has its devotees, at this point in the genre, either one needs to wield unmatched talent or be able to use the studio to augment the recordings in some manner. Unfortunately, neither can be said to occur on How Day Earnt Its Night.

The bloated and overly literary title aside, Reynolds is unquestionably more than adept at the guitar, its varied acoustic styles and its history. As with the current crop of New Weird Americans, Reynolds' knows more than a bit in passing about John Fahey and what made his work so important. But to appropriate a portion of that at this late date doesn't really benefit listeners, nor the musician.

American's aside, there's as rich a tradition on that island over there of guitar playing as to have a bit of hometown flavor added atop of Reynolds' playing. While Bert Jansch - as talented as he was - may have borrowed a bit from the colonies, Reynolds' occasionally slips into effete guitarisms can be forgiven.

On the album's centerpiece - the twelve minute "How the Day Earnt Its Night" - Reynolds works a modicum of approaches into the track. And it's here for the first time that listeners can pick out the guitarist's fascination with the drone. The first five minutes or so of the track are given over to variations on a single note and how to work in a variety or fills in or around it. The unified, yet disparate sections of the track while all working out the same note serve to explicate some distant hypothesis that Reynolds has regarding east and west, folk and drone. If only this kind of push was made throughout the entirety of the disc, it would be more than worth a listen.