Arclight
Arclight shows how much Julian Lage can do with a small group. Scott Colley's double bass and Kenny Wollesen's drums give his electric guitar room to move without letting the music drift apart. The pieces are short, the melodies clear and the playing consistently surprising. Technical skill is everywhere, but rarely demands separate attention.
Fortune Teller begins fairly gently before a unison riff suddenly gives the music more bite. The guitar's sharp edge suits that change. Prospero takes the sound further, drawing on rock and blues while leaving enough room to avoid becoming a straightforward genre exercise.
Variety also arrives through smaller gestures. Stop Go Start concentrates on tone and atmosphere. Its quieter approach works because the trio does not need to fill every space. Colley and Wollesen supply much more than timekeeping; their responses help decide where a piece goes.
The older songs fit naturally alongside Lage's compositions. Harlem Blues brings jazz and country flavours together, while I'll Be Seeing You keeps its familiar melody within a freer performance. Lage can give a phrase an unexpected turn without losing the song underneath it.
The compact format does mean that some ideas leave you wanting more development. Listeners who mainly want extended solos and large structures will find a different approach here. Yet that brevity also keeps the record lively. Arclight gives each piece a distinct character and stops before the trio starts overexplaining its discoveries. It is approachable guitar music with enough tension and detail to remain interesting beyond its immediate melodic appeal.
