Steffen Basho-Junghans - Waters in Azure
(Strange Attractors)
Steffen Basho-Junghans is still beating the most
unbelievable sounds imaginable from a steel string acoustic guitar.
After last year's fantastic INSIDE he returns with this set of
smaller pieces, driven largely by "Inside the Rain" which rocks as
hard as possible for a man playing 12-string solo guitar. The pulse
and flutter of his guitar notes give the impression of a large German
banging away haphazardly, amused by the resulting sonority, but each
moment is certainly controlled.
Filled with water imagery, Waters in Azure moves through four
sections. "Waters" is a three-part suite for 12 string that uses a
guitar slide to conjure some sounds that certainly sound like
electronic noise. His sense of tension and release is masterful here,
never overdoing the dynamics. The above-mentioned "Inside the Rain"
follows, and while it sounds like the name of a Talk Talk song, it's
definitely the highlight of the album, sounding like a minimalist
guitar ensemble (only actually played by one person).
The second three-part suite on the album, "ONE No1" is for 6 string
guitar and it tends to drag a bit. Perhaps the decision to sequence the 6
string work after the 12-string hurts the album a bit, because the more
wide-ranging color of 12-string brings makes those pieces more
inviting. The last piece on the record, also for six-string ("AZURE
No1") is more successful, bridging his rhythmic pounding with an
Arnold Dreyblattian sense of motion.
It's hard to convey the strange density of Junghans' music in words, but the
power is astounding. Even the uninitiated can hear his compositional
ability, masked as it is by the psychedelic ripples in his technique.
Adventurous but not too ambitious, Waters in Azure is another masterpiece.
|
