The Watchers

Born in the Ukraine in 1948, since the late '70s Lubomyr Melnyk has been composing, performing and recording a pioneering classical piano technique that he refers to as "continuous music," where he crafts a tapestry of sound using overtone and sustain generated from a flurry of precise notes, creating complex harmonies (and dis-harmony) from the shifting chords. Born in 1981 in the UK, James Blackshaw's wonderful compositions for acoustic 12-string guitar grew out of the folk and blues guitar legacies of artists like Bert Jansch and John Fahey, and he has been recording as a solo artist and collaborator for more than a decade. They come from different backgrounds and disciplines, but when the two artists met a festival a few years back, Blackshaw's longtime love of Melnyk's music led to a friendship that eventually led to this wonderful improvised album of collaborations. When Melnyk saw Blackshaw play for the first time at that festival, his first thought was "continuous music for the guitar," and indeed, it's easy to hear a similarity in the players' precise, swirling notes. They are both incredibly disciplined and accomplished talents who are best known as composers, but here they have let their hair down, so to speak, with a set of four live studio improvisations, starting with some basic progressions that lead these players down shifting pathways of lush, pastoral beauty. Especially considering just how dense, complex and technique-driven both of their own styles can be, and the relative lack of experience they both have improvising, this album is a true wonder, quiet, subtle and totally engrossing, as these amazing players weave in and out of each other, crafting gorgeous Technicolor washes of sound and multi-layered harmonies. It is a rare and beautiful thing, and fans of either artist will love it.