Album: Lights Above Artist: Jonathan Tribble Released to Bandcamp: 19-July-2024
Overview: Six tracks, all instrumental music. On the whole very pleasant, gentle music, almost ambient. This is EP length with total duration of between 18 and 19 minutes. Occasionally on some, not all tracks, other elements burst in temporarily to change the mood, seemingly to wake up the listener. Whether a listener wishes to be awakened is a personal matter, of course. Whether generally mellow or occasionally piquant, this is not meandering music, but full of purposeful choices.
Track 1 Briarwood (2:40) Pleasant instrumental mostly featuring two guitars, one acoustic and the other a slide. At about the one minute mark, the loudness jumps and the slide guitar comes to center and adds a drum to the arrangement. This changes the mood from contemplative, eyes fighting to stay open as one thinks back on a day to something more anxious. Some may like the dynamic break-up, but, obviously it wasn’t something I cottoned to. After 16 bars, there’s a return to the two acoustics, but the drum heavy dynamic will come back as a coda to the track.
Track 2 The Sun Will Become a Diamond (5:00) Guitars and banjo work with sparse percussion and bass for another instrumental track. Another pleasant track, though a slight deduction made for the engineering as the parts are a little too strident. It is plausible that the artists wishes the track to be both pleasant and anxiety inducing and at review time, I wished for more mellow than anxious. I like the title.
Track 3 Petals in Slow Motion (2:16) Starting with an acoustic guitar strumming in waltz time, a pedal steel comes in after an interval, and later we get harmonica. Another instrumental track which is very effective at a laid-back country feel. No curve balls in the arrangement. Were one to cite a negative about the track, it’s that it’s too short. Wouldn’t want to live there, but could we visit a bit longer, stay until supper, we’ll wash the dishes in gratitude.
Track 4 Black-Eyed Susan (2:22) Primarily acoustic guitar with another six-string (or bass) providing sustained low notes. We also hear the guitarist moving in the chair. While some might fault the engineer (or the chair upholsterer) for the added noise, I like it. Down-home and serene. We’re hanging out in a living room as the guitarist brings us some nice, crisp, acoustic guitar. (Note, >Black-eyed Susan> is a frequently used title including a song that is a variant on >Long Lost Roving Tar> from centuries ago. I think this is a different song than the others. If I’m wrong, I don’t believe that will detract from the gently accommodating music.)
Track 5 Stone Angel (2:54) Spaciously arranged adagio instrumental with guitars taking the foreground and accents from piano. A nearly frantic piano part appears which isn’t in the groove. That might be the point; a bit of chaos injected in this meditative track. It didn’t work for me, it might work for you, and regardless it was a choice and commendation for taking a chance is in order.
Track 6 The Witching Hour (3:07) Tempo is andante, so another track which offers itself as background music to contemplate, relax, or do homework. Guitar based with a simple percussion, bass drum-2-snare-4. A guitar on the left plays a repeated soothing melody. After a few bars a counter melody on a resonant guitar played with slide appears. Nice music.