'Music exists for me in an elusive state, often at its best when discovered apart from any particular intention'
– Pat Metheny
Songs Metheny found in a lost folder - there is a carefreeness rather than a carelessness to Dream Box. ''The box'' he says in the liner notes is slang for hollow bodied guitar. On a basic level because of its solo complexion Dream Box compares most directly but not a whole lot with 1979's driving rock drenched Americana of New Chautauqua, 2003's One Quiet Night and 2011's What's It All About.
Its sweet toned euphony is a world away from the more squally free improvisation inspired anarchic rumblings of 1994's Zero Tolerance for Silence. And mention of the latter shows that seemingly same-shaped comparisons make less sense than you might think even to the records that are a closer fit. That's because Metheny's range in his voluminous work 47 years on since the release of the classic Bright Size Life has a lot of breadth to it.
There is no weltschmerz anywhere on Dream Box more the manifestation of a poet sealed inside wishing to climb out. A gentle tristesse everywhere, clip open the locket to reveal delicate blooms inside - the tunes with words like waves, mountains, angels, love in the titles - are without any fear of exaggeration incredibly satisfying. Out on 16 June
MORE READING AND LISTENING:
- On 'Ole and Gard' - surely a pun on ''old guard'' - who knows - Scandinavian coffee outlets seem to gain names like this. Last month's most read piece on marlbank
- Hear how different Metheny is on the Dream Box version of Jule Styne's 1940s era 'I Fall In Love Too Easily' by contrasting with the Howard Alden duo treatment from Time Lines a decade ago with Helmut Nieberle that has far more of a dated swing guitar tilt to it.
Pat Metheny, photo: Metheny Twitter image
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