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Mike Tamburo, "Beating of the Rewound son"
On his first solo release, Tamburo’smastery of the guitar is on clear display. The five tracks arebeautifully resigned compositions which explore not just the musicalpossibilities of the acoustic guitar, but also its ability to—pardonthe cliché—speak to the soul.The Music Fellowship
While only one song here manages tocomplete its journey in less than ten minutes, the rest meander througha variety of well-executed ideas that make their epic lengths more of ablessing then a curse. “Adam’s Fruit Temptation” begins with fairlyconventional guitar picking before being overtaken by a wash ofelectronic effects. It begins its next section with a slightly menacingbanjo that is carried by an undercurrent of electronic washes and organdrones. An up-tempo guitar jig follows, with its roots firmly plantedin the tradition of Appalachian folk. As it settles into a repeatedmelodic figure, an organ slowly swells up and provides backing.“Something About Dangerous Women” is a slow, sinister work thatgradually builds steam over a series of harmonic figures, beforefalling into minor key picking. The track is far sparser then “Adam’sFruit Temptation” and in addition to his six string acoustic, Tamburodeploys a droning ebow here to back him up at various points. As hispicking gradually intensifies, Tamburo throws in more notes to heightenthe sense of unease. For other players, this could have proved to be acostly mistake, but Tamburo knows exactly where to cut it. Tamburofollows the breathlessness of “Dangerous Women” with “My Time MachineMoves Slower Without You,” which cascades upon a wash of electricguitar effects. The song hues closer to the shoegazer haze of My BloodyValentine than the rest of the album, but is a fitting and beautifulcoda, with a spine tingling guitar part that appears throughout. Thoughit would be tempting to lump Mike Tamburo’s work with what is often(and erroneously) dubbed “freak folk,” the fact is that his music isfar more rooted in the traditions of American folk and blues to warrantsuch a label. Ultimately, the album’s success is rooted in bothTamburo’s masterful playing and his ability to not be pinned down by aparticular style or sound. Beating of the Rewound Son is a beautifulalbum that is just as comfortable exploring sun-drenched houses in thecountry as it is empty warehouses sitting along a polluted river, andit is the discoveries you can find here that which makes the album sorewarding.
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