SESSIONS

I've been a fan of Peter Matuchniak's music and guitar playing for a few years now ever since I heard his band Gekko Projekt. As well, I have in my collection his band Evolve IV and Bomber Goggles, his solo work, and albums of other artists he has worked with, including Hamlet of Transport Aerian, Steve Bonino, and Marco Ragni. Most recently, Peter also played on the latest studio release by Kinetic Element and their subsequent live album.

A couple of months back, Peter asked me if I would like to hear his newest release, "Sessions". Of course I would! Though I was curious what kind of an album this was. Session work? Bits from sessions that were left off albums?

Peter Matuchniak's "Sessions" album is nearly 80 minutes of music culled from sessions he did for not only the artists I mentioned above but also for a couple of others I haven't heard. Peter explains in the album's press release that when he recorded guitar work for other artists, he had his own impression of how the songs would be mixed. Though not disappointed in the final mixing, with which he had nothing to do, Peter was desirous of mixing the parts to which he contributed as he imagined they should sound. Fortunately, all the artists were very generous with letting him remix his parts and then compiling these remixed versions on a CD of his own.

So what we have here is what I would call a "Greatest Bits" album because the tracks are essentially short songs and parts of longer songs that featured Peter's guitar work. And what a collection it is! I was surprised how many parts I instantly recognized, having heard them already on the original albums. I quickly realized that these were often my favorite parts in the songs. I many cases, however, I hadn't particularly been aware of Peter's playing because some of these musicians are excellent guitarists in their own right. This did make me aware once again of what it is about Peter Matuchniak's playing sound and style that I enjoy so much.

Peter is a big fan of Steve Hackett and even has a tribute band that performs Steve Hackett covers live. I can't say that I myself am that familiar with Hackett's work outside of Genesis and thus can't draw any direct parallels between Steve and Peter. But I do like Peter's approach to his guitar work, and I think he shines on his work presented here. Sometimes it's quite subtle especially when there's a vocal part with lyrics that demand your attention. But a lot of it has always struck me as the best parts in the songs.

If you are not familiar with Peter Matuchniak's music, this album here does serve as a nice introduction to what he does. I would like to recommend having the original albums so that you can enjoy Peter's guitar in the context of the whole song. But if that's unfeasible or you are just a really big fan of his work, then this album has a lot to offer.