Steffen Basho-Junghans - Rivers and Bridges
(Strange Attractors)
Instrumental acoustic guitar music is perhaps the most pan-generic style of music, having practitioners from folk, blues, classical, New Age, jazz, and rock. In recent years, German guitarist Junghans (the "Basho" is adapted from his guru/mentor, Robbie Basho) has been quietly releasing some of the finest entries in the genre, and nowhere is this more apparent than on this, his third full length. Combining elements of all styles, from the folky melodicism of Nick Drake ("Hear the Winds Coming") to the intricately elaborate sidelong "The River Suite," Basho brings a warmth to the instrument with these emotional performances, avoiding the cold, clinical, "gee-whiz, listen to this" trappings that an album of acoustic guitar performances can often degenerate into.
Cultists who are more into this music than I am will have fun playing a little game of "name that guitarist," and I can imagine the more upper-crusty clerks around the world (i.e., the High Fidelity-type elitist snobs) slapping on "The Tacoma Bridge Incident" and waiting for one of the rack browsers to enquire "Is this the new John Fahey?"
This is very visual music, with titles providing a springboard to a daydream of the listener's self-composed images: "Rainbow Dancing" evokes images of tranquil, post-storm blue skies and children dancing in a field beneath rainbows stretching across the horizons; "Autumn II" is tentative and syncopated, as nature attempts to ward off the onset of fierce, cold winters, desperately clinging to the warmth of the summer. Autumn is a transitional season and Basho's piece follows its syncopated opening with a smooth, fluid finale, as if nature has accepted the changing of the guard. As such, the piece brilliantly encapsulates the emotional turmoil that everyone experiences when faced with the inevitability of change.
Finally, the short, delicate "Epilogue" calmly and gently ends our journey, reminiscent of Jorma's "Embryonic Journey." An emotional, evocative listening experience.
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