van Rensburg, Andre - Unfinished Cities
SKU
MATA02
This is an album of experimental/avant guitar music. I know that some folks think it is easy to just make noise and call it avant-garde, but it isn't easy to make something that's as well organized and listenable as this release. Includes various guests, but this is predominantly a guitar album.
"When he was 6 years old, André van Rensburg strung a guitar string to a plank of wood, attached the other end to his bedroom window bars and yanked the string until it broke. His musical vision has changed little since. This is the 2nd solo release from South African-born guitarist/composer André van Rensburg. Having spent the last 4 years living in Asia, here is music steeped deep in ritualistic and ancient improvisational techniques, from the troubled soil of Africa to the dark alleys of modern Tokyo. Recorded in studios and halls from Johannesburg to Japan this release also features world-renowned experimental/virtuoso koto player Chieko Mori and Yoko Ikoma on accordion and toy piano.
Andre concentrates on acoustic and toy guitars on most tracks. Dissonance and melody combine in acoustic strains of delight as the delicate balance of improvisation and composition blends these instruments and musicians together until they seem indiscernible.
On his solo guitar tracks, André uses silence as much as his seemingly schizophrenic struggle with the instrument to try and bring as much out of the guitar as possible. Here East meets West in a non pretentious and subconscious level that would have you coming back for more."