Roland GR 55 Guitar Synthesizer

The new record features ten compositions by Metheny, who is joined by long-time drummer, Antonio Sanchez, Malaysian/Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh, and British pianist Gwilym Simcock as well as the Hollywood Studio Symphony conducted by Joel McNeely. Meshell Ndegeocello (vocals), Gregoire Maret (harmonica), and Luis Conte (percussion) are special guests on From This Place, Metheny’s first album of new material since 2014’s Kin (←→). Expanding on the strength of his touring quartet with pianist Gwilym Simcock, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Antonio Sanchez on From This Place, guitar master Pat Metheny adds the lush yet never overpowering sound of the Hollywood Studio Symphony led by Joel McNeely, as well as Luis Conte on additional percussion.

For Norwegian musician Erik Wollo, Guitar Nova is a return to his roots. Best known for electronic landscapes on albums such as Solstice and Images of Light, Wollo actually generates most of his music with a guitar synthesizer. For Guitar Nova, however, he returns to pure, mostly acoustic guitar in an intricate, delicately balanced set of compositions. But it's not just another solo guitar album. Wollo multitracks his instruments in elaborate designs that have the same evocative power of his more lushly orchestrated synthesizer works.

Paul Roland - Happy Families
EAC/Flac+Log-no Cue | Full Scans 300 dpi | 203 MB
Folk Rock/Prog Rock/Modern Classical | New Rose Records #ROSE 163 CD | 1988

Paul Roland (born 1959 in Kent, England), ‘England’s psych-pop guru’, must surely qualify as unique amongst cult independent recording artists. Not only is his quintessentially English music alive with 19th century literary references and characters that would not be out of place in the pages of writers as Edgar Allan Poe, Peake, Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells or H.P. Lovecraft, but he is also a serious literary figure in his own right. His preoccupation with the supernatural takes an often whimsical slant in his lyrics. The fanciful and macabre subject matter of Roland’s songs and the baroque styled instrumentation he favours are no doubt partly the reason why he has not achieved the popularity of his contemporaries such as Robyn Hitchcock (who called Roland ‘the male Kate Bush’), but his distinctive style has ensured a loyal cult following in Europe if not in England.