JAMES BLACKSHAW - Litany Of Echoes

A half-successful record, “Litany Of Echoes”. While good old Blackshaw confirms himself to be a well-rounded composer rather than a mere fingerpicking virtuoso, on the other hand it's clear that his technique is gradually becoming more complex. And that's not necessarily a good thing, even if the feared drift towards Windham Hill territory remains fairly distant.

So we get a "Gate Of Ivory" and a "Gate Of Horn" in understated piano mode, which call into play nothing less than Lubomyr Melnyk's "continuous music", and which raise hopes for something different from the usual - but for the rest of the tracks, conversely, Blackshaw merely goes through the motions. Because there's a none-too-hidden liaison between the English guitarist's music and repetitive and/or minimalist music, so after hearing the aforementioned compositions I sincerely hoped for a shift towards those sounds and compositional methods, while "Echo And Abyss", "Infinite Circle" and "Shroud", however enjoyable, don't stray much from what we can by now call the "Blackshaw canon".

So “Litany Of Echoes” is a wasted opportunity to move beyond the already heard. A "minor" album, yet still enjoyable, especially if you approach it uncritically and let yourself be carried away by the emotions it's nonetheless capable of delivering. Because at the end of the day, not everyone is capable of writing a "Past Has Not Passed" (this one you absolutely must listen to, especially if you've recently lost a loved one).

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31/08/2008