There is a particular sadness in thinking about grief before it arrives. Forethought of Grief takes its title from that idea within Wendell Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things, and Russ McRee gives the thought room to remain unresolved. The guitar does not fill every space. Phrases arrive and recede, with bass and drums moving quietly around them, leaving pauses that become part of the music itself. Russ describes the piece as intentionally sad, written to make room for thought, longing and the emotions that gather in silence. Among its musical influences is Roger Waters’ The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, a reference that can be heard in the patient way the composition allows atmosphere and melody to share the same ground. The second piece from The Peace of Wild Things moves away from the wide horizon of its opening track and into a more solitary place.