This is the second release of
Gordian Knot, who released their first self-titled cd in 1999. Bassist Sean Malone, former
Cynic has written all music and then hired musicians to play it. Among those,
Jim Matheos of
Fates Warning, and a lot of old members of
Cynic.
We are again dealing with an instrumental cd here. Not crazy metal written to back up some soloplayer with an
Yngwie-syndrome but a more quiet melodic, emotional yet complex instrumental jazzrock cd. Some songs, like
Grace, are very quiet while a song like
Muttersprache is much more rock-ish with a nice pumping rythm. Here we get a lot of guitar and stick solos (as on the album in general). But always with a very progressive or maybe even fusion-like feeling. The melodies and solos have generally a jazzy feeling which make them interresting compared to standard rock solos. These are experienced musicians we are dealing with here.
The solos are mostly a mix of jazz and what I have heard of the old progressive bands like
Yes,
King Crimson and
Rush (sorry to say that my knowledge in that area is a bit limited). A thing I didn't realize until I read the liner notes is that a lot of the solos are played by Sean Malone on a Chapman Stick (an instrument that looks a lot like a guitar but is played only by tapping). The sound of the stick on the cd is most of the time like a guitar. Quite weird from time to time, like the first solo in
Some Brighter Thing where it sounds a bit like a synth. Very interresting.
The whole thing starts off with a bass solo. Sort of bluesy and very nice to listen to. Not the "I'm going to show ya'll how fast I can play"-sort of solo. It seems that the purpose is just completely different here. Somehow more focused on the song. Granted, there are a lot of solos on the cd but they all seem as part of the song as if they are backing up the song and not the other way around. I must admit that I really love those show-off solos but there is a time for everything. That time shows up a bit later on the cd.
The Brook The Ocean can be compared to the more crazy jazz fusion cds out there. Strange chords and a very nice bass solo start out this song. The solo starts out slowly and then gets quite complicated.
Compositionwise, this is not the usual verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus type of songs as you probably have guessed by now. The average songlength is around 7 minutes except the opening 2 minutes bass solo. Even though a lot of the cd is slow and emotional it never gets boring because there is always something new to listen to. However,
grace comes very close to being boring after having listened to the same stick-riff for a whole song. At this point it doesn't matter how interesting the solo on top of it is.
Muttersprache has a very weird melody played by 2 guitars, one to the left and one to the right. They descend tonally with 1 tone or a semitone between them. Sounds very weird when you are in the middle.
Conclusion: This is a very nice cd. Somehow mr. Malone has managed to create a cd that is at the same time both complicated and easy to listen to. You can listen to it for a long time and yet find new things in the music. It has a laid-back feeling most of the time, and then surprises you with some heavier parts.
Emergent is very well-produced. The bass can be heard at all times without hiding other instruments. This is probably because it is written and recorded by a bass player :) A lot of other bands should try to let the bass be heard, especially when it is played as tastefully as here. Generally this is a cd that I will put on from time to time when I want some music that doesn't scream "Listen to me!" yet is complex enough when you decide to listen more carefully. A very well composed and played cd.
Written by
Tajs Tuesday, March 4, 2003
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