Charles Brown's guitar music is mature, melodic and different – and it's a
damned good listen. Yet it very often sounds nothing like guitar music. Brown
has adopted the guitar and the guitar synth as his instrument of choice, and has
developed a sound that is exclusively his own. You won't hear anything like this
anywhere else.
Classically trained and a master all-round guitarist, Brown has released 5
increasingly sophisticated CDs of richly textured instrumental music. All
are somewhat similar in their extensive use of the Roland GR-33 synth, and all
are essentially solo efforts with occasional bass, percussion and keyboard
assistance from guest artists. A common characteristic of most of Charles
Brown's songs is a simple theme that is developed and embellished and built into
a multi-layered body of work that preserves the sanctity of the original melody,
yet simultaneously displays all the complexities and sophistication that will
appeal to the demanding progressive rock fan.
The sounds generated by the synth vary tremendously. For example, "The Funk's
in The House" is just that - a funky piece with what sounds for all the world
like a big-band multi-part brass backing. Add what Charles calls an "Al Dimeola
meets Hendrix type solo" and the contributions of long-time
Internet-collaborators Bill Lawrence who provides a lilting bass groove and Matt
Bassano with a light-fingered mini-moog solo and you have an
unconventional piece of music that will appeal to the sophisticated listener.
The self-titled "Cry of The Northern Wind" is a highlight. As with Beethoven's
6th symphony, you can close your eyes and hear the cries of a howling wind in
this track - it builds up then pulls back and builds up again and again, all the
while maintaining a taught energy that speaks to the latent power of a storm.
This piece is melodically powerful as well, and by far the most complex piece on
the record with interweaving themes and layer upon layer of textures and a rich
variety of synthesized instruments.
There are trumpet-like patches on this album, mini-moog-like sections, and
even some 'tron-like choral sounds - but it isn't all synthesized. The plain old
garden-variety guitar - electric, bass and acoustic - is at the heart of this
music - yet the style is unconventional and creative and although the
cadence is usually rapid and the pace driving, there's no unnecessary
self-promotional noodling, and no experimenting with synth effects. Every note and
every chord contributes directly to the song at hand - this is refined,
tightly composed music.
Cry Of the Northern Wind comprises11 tracks that are over in just 39
short minutes - and you'll wonder how so much sophistication could fit into such
a condensed timeframe. In a review of a previous Charles Brown album it was
necessary to point out that it really wasn't metal - it was rock. This time it
isn't rock - it's progressive music with a foot in the symphonic and the rock camps Cry
Of the Northern Wind is a more mature piece with more jazzy touches, more
old-fashioned influences, and with hardly any of the raw anger and the
quasi-metallic heaviness of Brown's earlier work. You'll also find major
improvements in the standard of production and mixing quality, and the cover art
by Jilaen Sherwood is imaginative and spacey, and provides appropriate packaging
for what is both - an other-worldly body of music, yet it also evokes images of
lonely seascapes and the howling cry of a northern wind.
Track Listing:
1. Cry of The Northern Wind
2. 104 Octane
3. Thru the Mist
4. The Sands of Time
5. Anthem to the Sun
6. Mr. Dowland's Midnight
7. The Hourglass
8. Aerial Passage
9. The Funk's in The House
10. Neutron Detonation
11. Raindance
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