elf@utcsrgv.UUCP (Eugene Fiume) (08/21/84)
About a year ago, I got interested in the Windham Hill label and picked up a sampler called 'An Evening with Windham Hill Live'. I was awestruck by the first cut, an incredible piece of acoustic guitar work by Michael Hedges called "Rickover's Dream". I have been playing and listing to guitar music for many years, but I have never heard anything like this--a highly percussive sound full of sharp transients and harmonics. I can't figure out how he does it. It sounds like his guitar is a combination hammered dulcimer, acoustic bass, and steel-stringed guitar. The guitar looks normal enough. I had to hear more. He released an album called 'Breakfast in the Field' on WH, which is good, nicely-recorded, well-executed steel-stringed guitar music. No magic though. 'Aerial Boundaries' is a new release on WH by MH, and it has exceeded my expectations. It is hard to be objective about this album. The recording, engineering, and pressing are superb. As you listen to the album you realise that Hedges has created a new repertoire of sounds that tax the player, the listener, and his/her stereo. A live studio version of Rickover appears on the album, and it's instructive having two goes at the same piece. As a break from more extroverted pieces, a pleasant arrangement of Neil Young's 'After the Gold Rush' appears. Hedges also dinks around with "minimalist" ideas, but he's most effective when he exploits his new array of expressionistic sounds. This album is available in Canada as a WH import and well worth the ten Canadian bucks and is highly recommended to those who like instrumental guitar music. For me, Hedges is the most exciting new guitarist since Egberto Gismonti (who?--he's on ECM). Eugene Fiume U of Toronto