folk / acoustic
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After all the musical violence I've been through today, I needed something calm and soothing. So when I noticed this 'soundtrack' in my downloads folder, I didn't hesitate. After all, beautiful things have been done with acoustic guitars over the past few hundred years or so. Besides, when the artists mentions ambient, drones and noise in his review submission I usually get quite interested.
Jonathan Fraser is a musician from Huntington Beach, California, mainly experienced in guitar. In 2009 he started working on this solo project an several releases have seen the light of day ever since. This soundtrack for an imaginary giallo film is a gloomy, melancholic piece of work. The term "giallo" is used to refer to a particular style of Italian-produced murder mystery film which often includes elements of horror fiction and eroticism (according to Wikipedia). So yes, it fits quite well with this type of movies.
While the album opens with an eerie intro, indeed reminding me of old horror b-movie soundtracks, most of the album constists of acoustic guitar sounds. These often nugde towards folk music but also incorporate some influences from jazz and post-rock. Upon these strums, sometimes layers of soundscapes grow, enhancing the melancholic atmosphere. On other occasions vocal samples, flutes or other instruments are being used, adding a lot of variation to the album. The variation is quite welcome actually since this album is almost two hours long.
Although there's very few percussion elements, most of the songs have a clear, easy-to-tap-along rhythm. The rhythm often gains a repetitive, hypnotic element which is quite interesting if you ask me. It makes the whole enjoyable for the entire duration, especially when an array of different instruments alternate with the guitars. So if you like acoustic guitar music in the vein of Nick Drake, Rodrigo y Gabriela or Andrés Segovia you might want to check it out, although I think in that case you won't like the black metal version of 'The Dance Arrested' at the end.
Serge
Jonathan Fraser is a musician from Huntington Beach, California, mainly experienced in guitar. In 2009 he started working on this solo project an several releases have seen the light of day ever since. This soundtrack for an imaginary giallo film is a gloomy, melancholic piece of work. The term "giallo" is used to refer to a particular style of Italian-produced murder mystery film which often includes elements of horror fiction and eroticism (according to Wikipedia). So yes, it fits quite well with this type of movies.
While the album opens with an eerie intro, indeed reminding me of old horror b-movie soundtracks, most of the album constists of acoustic guitar sounds. These often nugde towards folk music but also incorporate some influences from jazz and post-rock. Upon these strums, sometimes layers of soundscapes grow, enhancing the melancholic atmosphere. On other occasions vocal samples, flutes or other instruments are being used, adding a lot of variation to the album. The variation is quite welcome actually since this album is almost two hours long.
Although there's very few percussion elements, most of the songs have a clear, easy-to-tap-along rhythm. The rhythm often gains a repetitive, hypnotic element which is quite interesting if you ask me. It makes the whole enjoyable for the entire duration, especially when an array of different instruments alternate with the guitars. So if you like acoustic guitar music in the vein of Nick Drake, Rodrigo y Gabriela or Andrés Segovia you might want to check it out, although I think in that case you won't like the black metal version of 'The Dance Arrested' at the end.
Serge