Marius Noss Gunderson "Brazilian Guitar Music" 2019
Norwegain classical guitarist Marius Noss Gundersen devotes this entire album to the solo guitar compositions of Brazilian composer/guitarist Marco Pereira. It was not a casual project: Gunderson spent over
four years studying the music, including time in Rio de Janeiro working with Pereira, and had him as a mentor. The composer contributed notes on the compositions as well. His music is suffused with Brazilian
elements: choro, forro, and dance rhythms like the maxixe, chula (a samba style) and valsa. The program ranges from the technical complexity of "Bate-Coxa" to the slow lyricism of "Irene" to the romantic abandon
of "Rapsódia dos Malacos." Gunderson handles all of it with aplomb, a gifted interpreter with a genuine flair for the Brazilian culture that underlies it all.
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Mark Sullivan
David Pritchard "Evanescent" 2019
It was startling to listen to the first few minutes of David Pritchard's Evanescent. I would have sworn I was hearing the multi-tracked and interlocking acoustic guitar work of Steve Hacket. Early Genesis!
While a good tonal reference for Pritchard's use of six- and twelve-string guitars, shock quickly becomes awe as Pritchard's stunning landscapes begin to unfold. This is fingerpicking maximalism used to create
undulating waves of harmonic color. Whether it's two or twenty guitars weaving sonic lace works, the results are all gorgeous. Pritchard started as a jazz guitarist in the 1970s, putting out a few well-received
albums. A multitrack recorder changed his approach to music, and since then he's released a number of albums of mesmerizing acoustic guitar work. I'm glad to have finally found him and plan to dig into Pritchard's
discography. Better late to the party than to miss it entirely.
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Brian Clark
Derek Senn "How Could a Man" 2019
Derek Senn believes an album should be more than a collection of songs. How Could a Man finds thematic consistency with social satire in many cuts. Stand-ins for Senn get cut the most, an aging rocker who
was "hardcore" and "used to gig" but can't hold his medicinal brownies anymore. We meet him in the opener, "surfing in my cubicle," ready to fly away over Alaska to a new life. He's "over" the old one. In the
CD, he'll have 2 children under 2 at once; wax punk-ish over getting a "Babysitter;" work in sales while trying to write songs; and fail to get the band back together. The satire is bookended by love songs,
including the title track. The second necessary album element is a mindful approach to the arrangements, a strength here. There's the Beatlesque "Botox;" the "Nebraska" reminiscent "Pretty Things;" the
singer/songwritery "Song Mine;" and the New Wave "The Oil Oligopoly." From my point of view, how could a man not make a true album when he cuts a record? Derek Senn did.
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David Kleiner
Sean Presiloski "Toska" 2019
The first things you hear on Sean Presiloski's album Toska sound like church bells. I hesitate to call them "notes," inasmuch as this is a modern fingerstyle master at play, and the sounds coming through are so
much more than mere plucked strings. There's a kind of Cageian radiation coming from the guitar, a lovely breath of noise that demarcates the racket of the world--the clanking kitchen, the murmuring office, the
busy street--from the music on this lovely album. It's a great opening gesture, and whatever techniques Presiloski is using, he can also really pluck those strings. From the opening "Radiance" through to the
closing cadences of "Cerulean," this is music endowed with a soulful generosity that comes from some deep time of the guitar. There's hints of early jazz, lots of classical, perhaps something perhaps from the
Bronze Age of a lively imagination, and all manner of Celtic turns of phrase. Altogether wonderful.
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Brian Clark
Daniel Friend "Afterthoughts" 2019
Daniel Friend is a young Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter who has previously released two albums of instrumental guitar music. This four-song EP includes two instrumentals and two very different
tracks featuring vocals and ensemble. He opens with the instrumental "Lushington Street", a skillful solo performance on steel-string guitar that begins with a lovely rubato introduction, followed by rhythmically
varied sections that display a well-developed compositional approach. On "Lonely" and "Afterthoughts", Friend shares vocals with his spouse, Olivia, for soft rock group performances with Christian-themed lyrics.
The set ends with "Song for My Parents", another instrumental for the steel string that features Friend playing two well-integrated parts. Daniel Friend's instrumentals bear close listening and the two vocal tracks
are appropriate for Christian rock audiences. This release should strengthen his following
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Patrick Ragains
Peter Neri "Rough Edges" 2019
Peter Neri's new acoustic guitar CD is called Rough Edges, and for long-time listeners of solo guitar music, the title works. The songs are more snapshots than long-form compositions, more glimpses of
seedling musical ideas than sophisticated tunes. But they present the listener with enough to satisfy, and at times, desiring more. It's s short disc, with just 9 songs totaling a brief 23 minutes. The
playing is at times cute, at times sassy, at times playful, at times delicate. It is stark and simple in the best ways for guitar music – you're just listening to one man's hands on one guitar. We would like
to hear Neri dig a big deeper to show more what he is capable of with those hands and guitar.
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Kirk Albrecht