Considering that Deserter’s Songs received heaps of critical praise as one of the bravest albums of 1998, including the British magazine MOJO’s album of the year, it’s fitting that there should be an instrumental edition of the album, which was noted for its lack of traditional instrumentation, with all the lead vocals removed. Leader Jonathan Donahue had gone back home to the Catskill Mountains while his guitars were in hock and recorded his ideas on whatever he could find. The album that was eventually recorded included mellotron, Chamberlin, saw, woodwinds and brass and was decidedly less a rock album than a dreamlike sequence of songs that explored that odd-patch of pop where Donovan, Pink Floyd and others found new ways of empowering their music. This makes a great, heady trip. “Holes,” “Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp,” “Endlessly” and “Opus 40” become meditational trips to a different state of being. If you seek an album that is one strange trip, this instrumental collection is a rare beauty.