The Third Mind – Right Now! (Yep Roc) (13th Floor Album Review)
From the opening notes of Right Now! it’s clear that The Third Mind have once again captured the thrill of discovery in real time. Their third studio album is a dynamic dialogue between musicians, eras, and every earlier version of these songs that these fearless improvisers now claim them as their own.
Formed in 2019 by guitarist Dave Alvin, bassist Victor Krummenacher, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin, keyboards, sound effects) David Immerglück, drummer Michael Jerome, and vocalist/guitarist Jesse Sykes, the band began with a simple pact: no rehearsals, no fixed arrangements, just choose a key and hit record. Their 2020 self-titled debut and 2023 follow-up The Third Mind 2 turned that promise into sprawling psychedelic folk-blues explorations, while last year’s Live Mind proved the idea thrives on stage, songs mutating nightly. Right Now! continues that journey of evolution.
A lone acoustic guitar and Sykes’ intimate vocal open Shake Sugaree. Throughout the song the refrain “everything I got is done and pawned” floats over a hesitant, sad drone. Percussion enters like distant thunder, guitars darken and shimmer, and the rhythm section holds a centre as tones coil and fade. It’s a meditation on loss where every instrumental shift feels like a question asked and half-answered. The mood deepens in Pretty Polly, a traditional ballad given a modern, dramatic edge. A gentle acoustic strum lulls the listener until subtle drums and stray piano notes build a sense of foreboding. Sykes’ high, clear delivery recalls Sandy Denny while Jerome’s drumming replies to guitar trills in real time, sudden slashed chords and dynamic swells turning this old murder tale into a living drama.
After that tension comes the quiet confession of Before We Said Goodbye, the album’s sole original. Minimal bass and cymbal shimmer support whispered vocals and echoing guitar lines that slide and search as if tracing a private thought, the song offers comfort even as it exposes vulnerability. The mood lifts with Reno, Nevada, where Alvin takes the lead, his grizzled voice to the fore over a blues-rock riff that stops, starts, and doubles back. The shortest and most straightforward cut, it brims with interplay as guitar lines entwine and break apart, while solos spark against the rhythm section’s sure footing.
The band slows the tempo again for Reap What You Sow, resting on an ominous groove and the repeated warning “Just one thing before you go… there’s gonna be judgement in the morning.” Sykes delivers the line with soft authority as guitars grow frantic and drums accelerate, retreat, then surge again. Each escalation feels inevitable, and every lull perfectly judged. Darkness, Darkness follows, guitar and electric mandolin echoes giving way to a rising storm as Sykes pleads “keep my mind from constant turning.” Calm passages explode into thunderous riffs and fast beating percussion, then subside into chiming mandolin. Its final notes lead seamlessly into the cosmic finale.
That finale, The Creator Has a Master Plan, begins with mandolin textures and drifting percussion, spoken vocals guiding the listener through waves of sound. Instruments enter and fall away, bass measured and patient, guitars shimmering and cutting through, until the piece finally dissolves into a wind-like drone. Pharaoh Sanders’ original spiritual jazz is reimagined as seven minutes of folk-rock.
What makes Right Now! extraordinary is Sykes’ rightly celebrated voice and the collective precision of the entire band. Krummenacher’s bass often anchors, and sometimes subtly leads. Jerome’s drumming shifts, blends, and weaves with uncanny instinct, while Alvin and Immerglück trade textures from delicate filigree to searing feedback. The contribution of each player makes these songs restless, constantly changing creations rather than tributes or pastiches of previous versions.
In drawing from Elizabeth Cotten to Pharoah Sanders, The Third Mind demonstrate that source material is only a starting point. On Right Now! versions are forged that are new classics, and the album a powerful continuation of their musical journey. Right Now! begins as a conversation with the past and ends as a vivid reminder that great musicians make magic happen in the moment.
John Bradbury
Right Now! is out now on Yep Roc Records
