Who could’ve predicted that a Chicago-based instrumental band that released two albums in 1998 and 2001 before dropping out of sight would release their third album in 2026? It’s been an insane 12 months, so nothing seems surprising these days. Pullman feature members of Tortoise, Come, Gastr Del Sol, and Eleventh Dream Day (among others) and released a debut record, Turnstiles & Junkpiles, drawing comparisons to acoustic instrumental oddball geniuses like John Fahey and Leo Kottke, followed by a more textured, layered follow-up, Viewfinder. On that LP, Ken Brown, Curtis Harvey, Chris Brokaw and Doug McCombs are joined by drummer Tim Barnes, giving the songs a fuller sound.
Between 2021 and 2023, Pullman worked on the long-awaited third album, logically titled III. It was during this time that Barnes went public with his diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s at age 54. Whether the diagnosis affected the overall tone of the music is hard to tell, but the fact that the album tends to be rougher around the edges and more experimental makes sense.
The overall production on III tends to sound much more distorted and grittier than on the first two albums. The opener, “Bray”, kicks off with a few seconds of amplifier hum before heavily distorted guitars – although primarily acoustic – lead a dirge that blurs the lines between folk, metal and noise. The appropriately titled “Weightless” combines the ringing and buzzing of multitracked guitars dancing around playful bass lines and the subdued flutter of percussion.
Elsewhere, the gentle, elegant psychedelic buzz of “Thirteen” sounds like Leo Kottke underwater, and the woozy banjos on “Kabul” bring to mind an ambient, droning post-rock band vacationing in Appalachia. However, the record’s crowning achievement is the epic “October”, clocking in at 13 minutes and change. The track slowly builds its lo-fi opening soundscape for several minutes before waves of distortion ebb and flow, but always in a muted, dreamy sludge. Even the sharp sonic attacks seem friendly. The track, like most of III, revels in unique musical choices that may initially come off as threatening but eventually warm up.
There’s a gruff intimacy to this album, which sounds deeper, wiser, and more profound than Pullman’s two previous records. Hopefully, the relatively long gestation period – which sounds well worth the time – will not mean that Pullman fans need to wait several more years for a fourth album.