Highly listenable selection of steel string guitar improvisations from Swedish artist, Finn Loxbo, that judiciously balances avant thinking, accomplished technique and a sense of melodic structure. The dexterity of Loxbo’s playing is such that the guitar tends to take on the qualities of other stringed instruments, and doesn’t feel so firmly rooted in north Western tradition - could it be a kora, could it be a guembri? The vivid, often hypnotising nature of the performance might beg some comparisons to the likes of Jon Collin, Jules Reidy or Turner Williams Jr., though there’s an underlying anti-formalist aspect to Loxbo’s approach that had my mind travelling further west to Chicago and David Grubbs/Gastr Del Sol, that feeling of well-versed, open-ended experimentation that manages to unify tradition with the outre. Virtuosity is by no means a necessary trait for me, but Loxbo certainly knows how to carry it well, frequently inventive but never fussy or overly showy. That is perhaps the rarest skill on display across Lummernikt.
FFO: David Grubbs, Jon Collin, Turner Williams Jr., Koude, Jules Reidy
