Chris Morphitis:
Where to Go:
Village Green:
Out 11th November 2013:
★★★★★
Yes, those five little stars ought to be a lot bigger - Where To Go really is a faultless work, even at the point where the elegiac and cyclical opener 'The Count' (dedicated to his son), replete with African and jazz influences, draws to a close and the crackle of the slow-burning 'Claustro' prowls into earshot like a tiger at a house party. The first two tracks couldn't be any more different or more enticing and that goes for the following eight pieces, a fact made all the more incredible when you learn that this is Morphitis' debut-album. It sounds like his tenth or, at least, his third such is its depth of character.
And that's because he's enlisted all sorts of influences and contributors to drive this predominantly instrumental album through Southern Hemisphere landscapes and European city back-streets. 'Embrace' is Satie-esque, Reinhardt and Nyman in pastoral cohorts while 'Timelapse' mirrors the sort of classique melancholia served up by Cinematic Orchestra's Stuart McCallum on his equally-faultless 'Distilled' album from a few years back. Hassan Erraji, a leading Moroccan experimentalist whose heyday in the '90s involved a few albums with Belgian outfit Arabesque, makes his mark across the album while American minimalist is ever-present in spirit on the pretty 'Pee Feel' - close your eyes and your swirling around inside Pat Metheny and Steve Reich's 'Electric Counterpoint' series.
Fans of Mike Oldfield's or Vini Reilly's guitar-style might appreciate the expressive 'If S2', more for the mood than the execution, while elements of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Durutti Column and Ali Farka Toure creep into the closing masterpiece 'Chartwell', dedicated to the African musician Dutiro and as pretty as a picture.
In fact the whole album is an engaging travelogue that will surely help to aim the spotlight in Chris Morphitis' direction sometime soon. Village Green have unearthed another worthwhile source of considerable talent. I like this very much indeed.
Where to Go:
Village Green:
Out 11th November 2013:
★★★★★
And that's because he's enlisted all sorts of influences and contributors to drive this predominantly instrumental album through Southern Hemisphere landscapes and European city back-streets. 'Embrace' is Satie-esque, Reinhardt and Nyman in pastoral cohorts while 'Timelapse' mirrors the sort of classique melancholia served up by Cinematic Orchestra's Stuart McCallum on his equally-faultless 'Distilled' album from a few years back. Hassan Erraji, a leading Moroccan experimentalist whose heyday in the '90s involved a few albums with Belgian outfit Arabesque, makes his mark across the album while American minimalist is ever-present in spirit on the pretty 'Pee Feel' - close your eyes and your swirling around inside Pat Metheny and Steve Reich's 'Electric Counterpoint' series.
Fans of Mike Oldfield's or Vini Reilly's guitar-style might appreciate the expressive 'If S2', more for the mood than the execution, while elements of Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Durutti Column and Ali Farka Toure creep into the closing masterpiece 'Chartwell', dedicated to the African musician Dutiro and as pretty as a picture.
In fact the whole album is an engaging travelogue that will surely help to aim the spotlight in Chris Morphitis' direction sometime soon. Village Green have unearthed another worthwhile source of considerable talent. I like this very much indeed.