“Phantom Threshold features eleven instrumental tracks that showcase Dawson's unique pedal steel playing and musically unfolds like a movie for your mind.”

“…the opening cut Cozy Corner could easily be an outtake from some classic David Gilmour session, while the title track is a straight ride into psychedelic C&W.”

“This work defies the notion of the current streaming era where single tracks capture one’s attention. To do anything else but listen to this work in its entirety is failing to do it justice. Different textures, moods, and sounds emerge on this sonic journey from the mixture of strings and keys on the opening “Cozy Corners” evoking heady music of the ‘70s from John Fahey to Pink Floyd.”

“The album has an expansive Paris, Texas era Ry Cooder feel with a pulsing psychedelic undercurrent. Best listened to from start to finish as a complete experience, there’s a story arc that begins with ‘Cozy Corner’s mixture of sliding strings and celestial keyboards with a slight hint of early seventies Floyd.”

“… It’s very much the kind of thing that Daniel Lanois has been aiming at away at over the last twenty years or so. It’s one of the best things I’ve heard this year and it’s rarely been off the deck since receiving it.”

“Languorous psychedelic-edged tunes buoy the listener through soothing waters on Phantom Threshold, finding Steve Dawson reunited with Jeremy Holmes, Chris Gestrin and Jay Bellerose. An instrumental album, characterized by pedal steel, the addition of marxophone and Moog synth amongst other vintage technologies, achieves transcendence.”

“Dawson creates a kaleidoscope of colors, giving echoey radiance when soloing with the pedal steel on “Burnt End” and sounding like a rural version of Brian Eno with Fats Kaplin on accordion on “The Waters Rise”.

“It’s kind of psychedelic, new age, blues, jazz, and rock blended into a pedal steel country album… sit down and just listen; it’s a great ride!”

“…A hauntingly beautiful all-original, all-instrumental set on which he plays pedal steel instead of six-string.”

“Wrapping the release is Whirlwind, featuring Dawson alone on Weissenborn. Alternating back and forth between flat picked melody and slide, Dawson really works the melody for a solid closer for a cool release.”

“Wonderfully atmospheric almost psychedelic vibe…”

“It’s an album that musicians will love, but there’s something here for everyone and you’ll get something new from every listen.”

“It’s not every album where you can create soundscapes that conjure musical images of the likes of Ry Cooder and Pink Floyd (and seamlessly blend them together), or make The Beach Boys work in an instrumental roots setting.”

“A Varied and Intriguing Set of Soundscapes from Canadian Musical Polymath.”

“A thread of pastoral, bucolic calm, runs through the first three numbers, reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s early, calmer days, and then a funky clavinet gives Ol’ Brushy a hint of southern sweat, not too far removed from The Meters’ early instrumental sides.”

“Phantom Threshold is a thing of beauty.”

“It’s one of the best things I’ve heard this year and it’s rarely been off the deck since receiving it.”

“The new record has the similar feel of a movie soundtrack and is best listened to in its entirety, as a complete piece of work, allowing your imagination the freedom to create the scenes Dawson’s songs could be accompanying.”

“Steve Dawson has been creating and recording innovative folk roots music for twenty-five years, and during that time—and notably the last decade—has seldom repeated himself.”

“I do hear early 70’s Pink Floyd, John Fahey, Leo Kottke & Ry Cooder embellishments. That’s what makes this listen all the more satisfying.”

“Nashville based, Juno Award-winning musician, singer-songwriter, producer, sideman, label owner and podcast host Steve Dawson (in short, an all-round roots-based talent) is making up for lost solo recording time in 2022.”

“It’s hard not to resist playing this enigmatic recording repeatedly.”

“This is an album made in celebration of the pedal steel musical instrument. Across eleven tracks and some forty-seven minutes, Steve Dawson creates a thread that links all of the ways in which this unique instrument can colour and augment a song arrangement.”

“As with anything worth time, Steve Dawson & The Telescope 3’s Phantom Threshold is one of continuation, of presence in its own space and one that excels beyond, an album of charisma and authority in every way.”