Music of Our Times...if you've been paying attention of late (and how could you not), these are indeed challenging times, and unlike anything that most of us have ever lived through before. On March 3, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan, after being stranded in the country after one concert with Stick Men and then a cancelled tour, legendary musician Gary Husband and acclaimed guitarist Markus Reuter are coaxed into the studio by MoonJune Records head honcho and producer Leonardo Pavkovic for a quick session to try and capture their unplanned hiatus in Nagoya. The results are Music of Our Times, featuring Husband on grand piano and Reuter on live electronics and Touch guitar, completely unrehearsed, live in the studio. With the uncertainty of the world due to the current pandemic, the uncluttered, bare, haunting arrangements of the six tracks here perfectly mirror what is going on in many of our lives today, the social distancing, the accepting that reality is now much different than what it was a few months ago, less activity, less clutter, and more isolation. Tracks like "A Veiled Path", "Music of Our Times", and "Colour of Sorrow" are simplistic in their approach, yet hauntingly powerful in their delivery, Husband's piano ominous yet spectacularly poignant & beautiful, with Reuter popping in and out with echoes of futuristic electronic soundscapes or tender Touch guitar lines. "White Horses (For Allan)" is no doubt a moving tribute to the late Allan Holdsworth, a tender piece with shimmering Touch guitar noises and cascades of majestic piano, while "Illuminated Heart" is the closest we get here to a fully realized jazz composition, lovely melodies from Husband complemented by distant strains courtesy of Reuter...a heart tugger of a piece, saved for the back end of the album.
It's not often than music of such magnitude is captured in such an impromptu setting, but Music of Our Times perfectly echoes the melancholy, sadness, anxiety, and uncertainty of all us are going through right now. Well done gentlemen.
Track Listing
1.
Colour Of Sorrow 10:32
2.
Across The Azure Blue 07:07
3.
Music of Our Times 06:35
4.
A Veiled Path 08:37
5.
White Horses (for Allan) 09:07
6.
Illuminated Heart 08:56
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