TK Webb moved to Columbus from New York two years ago to forge a new chapter in his life and his music. In Kansas City, Missouri, where he grew up, music more or less chose him.

“My older brother had a guitar and it was just a natural thing,” the songwriter said. “I was into Van Halen and then got into punk rock. There wasn’t a whole lot of other options where I’m from.”

Carving out most of the last decade as an established underground folkie with a psychedelic bent, Webb cut a few solo records and toured on his own while based out of the Big Apple.

“I stayed really busy,” he said. “I played too much there. I got into this thing where I would accept any show. From 2000 to 2006, I was playing solo so I would play anywhere all the time. As a band came into play, I would be more selective with the shows because you don’t want to drag a bunch of people out to Café Wherever. I had a band, TK and The Visions, and toured quite a bit for like a year and a half. And then it was time to go.”

“I was into underground Ohio rock since I was young, because a lot of awesome s**t happened here,” he continued. “I was curious about Ohio anyway. I came here and I hibernated for like a year, and then I met Dusty.”

That would be Dusty White, a local music fixture who makes a living working at a used record store, running sound at various venues, and touring with Columbus noise-pop stalwarts Times New Viking as their in-house sound man. Recognizing each other as kindred spirits, Webb and White made quick work of getting a noise-bolstered folk-rock project called Sundown off the ground.

“There’s like this weird symmetry in a lot of ways with the two of us, in that we grew up in the same sort of DIY world in the early- to mid-’90s, into the exact the same s**t,” said White. “About 2000 … what we were playing was in these different spheres and then it kind of figure eight-ed back around.”

Webb approached White to oversee the recordings of songs he’d been working on. “He said, ‘I know a rhythm section, let’s get something together,’ explained Webb. “I was planning on just making another solo recording.”

Sundown’s hazy, experimental sound is born out of an all-inclusive aesthetic that nods faithfully to decades of blues, country and folk traditions but refuses to dismiss contemporary notions. The idea was to meld Webb’s song craft with the dense, textured soundscapes and wall-of-smoke recording style White relishes. Taking a page out of country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons’ book, they appropriately dub it New Cosmic American Music.

“I’m not interested in doing something right now that’s purposefully regressive and pretends like the last 20 years never happened,” said White. “I’m not a f**kin’ cowboy. I dropped out of art school twice. Cowboys don’t go to art school.”

“Both of us are into guitar rock, from noisy to pretty,” said Webb. “But who isn’t, really? I can’t think of anyone I know or trust who isn’t. Except like old people. Like my grandma.”

“Forming a retro rock band was not our desired M.O.,” he added.

Releasing the songs in a retro format, however, is a different story. Mansion Burning, the ace six-song EP released on cassette last year, was the product of one day of recording and was mixed by White while on the road with TNV. The original 50-unit run is long gone, but Sundown is slated to re-release the tunes on vinyl via local label Spoonful Records in March.

What became of the tapes? Webb offers a theory.

“Those tapes are all in someone’s waterproof jam box in the shower somewhere.”

Catch Sundown at Ace of Cups on February 3rd and 18th. Check out thisissundown.com for more.