Black Boot is the artist name for Conrad Gonzalez, who moved to Bend from Brownsville, Texas about a year ago, who plays with, “a revolving door of friends, new and old,” according to the band’s Spotify. Gonzalez currently works as a chef at Suttle Lake Lodge by day, working as a focused interdisciplinary musician during his time away from kitchen life in the woods.
I fancy what the dude’s got going on with his sound because of the old yet familiar feeling in his music — that nostalgic PNW sound from the early 2000s I liked when I’d skip class and peruse Burnside in 2011. I’m also inspired by his well-rounded contribution to the arts in Central Oregon in more ways than one. Yes, food is art and I’ve seen his passion toward fine cuisine and it is 100% artistic.
Funny enough, Gonzalez actually chuckled at the fact I was even comparing his creative mediums of cooking and music and said, “Early on, my time in kitchens were highly uncreative and much more regimented. Still rewarding but I partially used music as a creative outlet to combat the dichotomy. And honestly, I’ve never really connected the kitchen and music until this question. Ha!” Perhaps for me it’s the connection between the environment Gonzalez spends most of his time in for work, a lodge in the woods, and the way you can feel the fog and high altitude in his music. He’s even recorded some of his musical projects at the Suttle Lake Lodge cabins. In addition to that, we can all appreciate that woodsy aesthetic. His latest EP, “A Light That Never Dims,” has video canvases on Spotify that consist of time-lapses of pine trees and beautiful mossy waterfalls. His sound brings just that; that nostalgic PNW sound that, quite frankly, is hard to innovatively bring back like he has.
Released in January of this year by Austin, Texas-based indie record label (in)Sect Records, “A Light That Never Dims” gives our ears four tracks: “Mission,” “Eternal,” “1,000” and “Race Runner.”
The short and sweet 15 minutes and 2 seconds has been on repeat on my headphones for the past 48 hours. I can tell you that all four songs blend effortlessly and patiently together into one uniquely original sound, with waves of steel pedal guitar, slow but grunge-y guitar strums and a variety of soft but heavy (yes I contradicted myself there, but it works) drum beats which could serve as the crashing of the waves. The steel pedal guitar (recorded by an artist who goes by Catfish in New York) brings impressions of the open-range countryside that uniquely intersects with the heaviness of Gonzalez’s heavy, almost surf-like, electric guitar. The grouping of Black Boot’s artists, chosen by Gonzalez, also consists of piano (recorded by Bob Cummins) and bass (by Jared Flores).
The moods in between the alternating keys and chord progressions create a super ambient quality to the album. It would make an excellent backdrop to a drive over Santiam Pass or up the Columbia River Gorge — or just chillin’, reading, or writing (wink). However, I wouldn’t consider it “background” music by any means. Even though the E.P.’s third track (“1,000”) sings, “How do you write a song? What are you supposed to say anyhow?” — the verses will stay in your head and allow you to want to hear what Gonzalez is saying. The lyrics are minimal, which also gives the instrumentals plenty of time to speak for themselves.
If you’re a fan of Interpol’s vocal lead Paul Banks or the vocals of Morphine’s late Mark Sandman, the steady depth of Gonzalez’s vocal arrangement creates an endurance to the piece as a whole. His voice leaves a lasting impression. If you remember indie-rock groups Surfer Blood, Milo Greene or Angus and Julia Stone, fit Black Boot into the mix. Or, if your prefer an indie-alternative palette that leans more on the ’90s shoe-gazy, ambient, alt-rock plane — like Slowdive or Portland-based Ten Million Lights — Black Boot is worth the bite.
“It’s a stitched quilt.” Gonzalez continued. “The only goal here is working with old friends and making new ones. I could play everything on my own but that just doesn’t excite me in any way.”
Check out Black Boot’s newly released music video for ‘1,000’ on YouTube:
‘A Light That Never Dims’ is available to stream on Spotify and purchase digitally and on vinyl at Bandcamp.
Follow (in)Sect Records on Instagram @insectrecords
This article appears in Source Weekly April 20, 2023.
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I love the fuzzy guitars!