JIM DAVIES
Jim Davies will be well known to many for his guitar playing in both Pitchshifter and The Prodigy, including session work on the latter's seminal album 'The Fat of the Land'. Here we have his debut solo opus, the appropriately titled 'Electronic Guitar', an instrumental album like no other for, according to a disclaimer in the CD inlay, "all of the sounds on this album apart from the drums and bass synths were created by the guitar". And as one could expect from a man involved with said two bands, his effects-infused unique style of playing is present on 'Electronic Guitar' in abundance. A million miles from the likes of Vai and Satriani's fretboard virtuosity, Jim Davies forces the need to redefine the phrase 'guitar virtuoso', proving that playing a hundred notes per bar of music does not necessarily solely constitute musicial wizardry. Quite the contrary, Davies allows his guitar playing to 'breathe' within the structure of each track and, although an accomplished player in the conventional sense (as proved by some skilfully executed leads throughout), his real genius is in the sonically abstract layers of electronic music created solely using guitar effects. Of the material on offer, not all fourteen tracks are perhaps objectively original although, when considered contextually in terms of the "I wonder how he does that" un-guitar like sounds, Davies' innovatively unique talent as a creator of imaginative guitar-based music is unparalleled. 'Electronic Guitar' is also a stylistically diverse album from the heavy, dark ambience of opening track 'Empire' to the techno-jazz-funk of 'Hide the Effects'. A true iconoclast of his instrument, Davies subverts established conceptions of instrumental guitar albums with astonishingly engaging results. Recommended.
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Mascot Records
Album
ELECTRONIC GUITAR
Review by Mark Holmes
RUNNING TIME:
51:17
RELEASE DATE:
26th May 2009
TRACK LISTING
1) Empire
2) How We Roll
3) Fire for Effect
4) Rubicon
5) Hot Shot
6) Sayonara
7) Last Laugh
8) Little Pick Me Up
9) Requiem
10) Hide the Effects
11) Trip; 12) Juno
13) Vital Signs; 14) Rockers Vs Ravers
2) How We Roll
3) Fire for Effect
4) Rubicon
5) Hot Shot
6) Sayonara
7) Last Laugh
8) Little Pick Me Up
9) Requiem
10) Hide the Effects
11) Trip; 12) Juno
13) Vital Signs; 14) Rockers Vs Ravers
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
UK
"A million miles from the likes of Vai and Satriani's fretboard virtuosity, Jim Davies forces the need to redefine the phrase 'guitar virtuoso'...A true iconoclast of his instrument."