Ethan WL, 'The Pink House' 

(Drongo Tapes, cassette, digital)

Last year, while walking through a flea market in Fairlee, guitarist and composer Ethan WL happened upon an acoustic guitar. Despite being more attuned to the electric six-string in his solo work and with his Massachusetts-based noise-rock outfit the Big Nest, Ethan was somehow inspired to purchase the instrument.

"From there I dove deep into a world of music that had long interested me," he wrote in an email. "Blues, folk, bluegrass, the playing of John Fahey, Jack Rose and Robbie Basho just to name a few."

His sudden fascination with so-called "primitive guitar" coincided with a stint living on a goat farm in Tunbridge, as he composed music for his friend Jefferson Everest Crawford's film The Pink House, or Inventor Crazybrains and the Girl Called Bird. The otherwise silent film, released in December, is set in rural Vermont. Ethan's score reflects that, combining evocative, earthy acoustic guitar work with flashes of ambient noise and field recordings.

"I Will Arise" begins the soundtrack, released as The Pink House, with an uplifting acoustic guitar figure that evokes the feeling of sunlight coming through an ice-encrusted window. Ethan is a talented player, buoyed by the excitement of finding a new outlet for his music. It's clear on this record how enamored he is of the older, British, folk-leaning tones he conjures from his flea market acoustic. His deft, finger-picked guitar work goes from tranquil to unnerving at a moment's notice, as he moves in and out of Western and Eastern modes.

The folk elements on The Pink House often come refracted through several lenses. The avant-folk on "White River Rag" features Pelt's Mike Gangloff playing a traditional Indian instrument called the tanpura. "Indian Love Call," with its cascading notes and ethereal tones, sounds like a cross between Pentangle and French Algerian guitarist Pierre Bensusan.

The album moves away from folk often, usually to sonically jarring pieces of field recordings, such as on "Bird" and "Nora's House." The former exists in a kind of stasis, with the sound of air rushing by the microphone and the gentle lap of a brook moving over rocks and mud creating a snapshot. In contrast, "Nora's House" features a cacophonous upheaval of violently loud noises, from the distant wail of a train whistle to the angry roar of a plane overhead.

Ethan describes the record as a sonic love letter to Vermont, with many of the track titles referencing local geography ("Appalachian Gap," "Nulhegan River Blues," "Mad River Lament").

"This album is a reflection on my time living there and the wonder, surprises, and sadness that came with it," Ethan wrote of his time in Tunbridge. The now Boston-based composer is also a filmmaker. He has worked with Vermont filmmaker Nora Jacobson, and he worked closely with Crawford filming The Pink House.

The hands-on approach worked. Even without seeing the film, one listen to the album evokes images of rolling green hills, dirt roads and old farms in the woods. The Pink House is a record made in and made of Vermont. Listen to it at lifebrut.bandcamp.com.