Portland guitarist Jeffrey Silverstein’s Nassau duo with Justin Wilcox sounds like a cross between Durutti Column and a less bombastic Fleet Foxes. Their 2017 album Heron elicits peaceful, easy feelings. Now on his own, Silverstein has cut an EP for the great Driftless Recordings titled How on Earth, and the feelings are even more peaceful and easy. (He wrote these pieces while serving as an artist-in-residence at Sou’wester Lodge in Seaview, Washington.) Backed by laid-back drum-machine beats, Silverstein looses spangly globules of six-string magic while occasionally singing in hushed tones. He calls this stuff “ambient-folk songs,” but the emphasis is on the former word. Against the odds, Silverstein has created a sweet strain of chill-out tapestries that’s as relaxing as a trip to your favorite nature retreat… which may be in Seaview. by Dave Segal