MINIATURES

With his involvement in the prolific SBB along with many other projects, Apostolis Anthimos could be forgiven for finding little time for a solo career. This though his third such release, the promotional material for the album indicating that "Apostolis talks about simple, common things like friendly chats about every-day stuff, about life and about us, the common people. About music and inspirations, simple friendship, cheerfulness, about passions and dreams. And all that is kept in the spirit of this album - a specific mosaic of sounds, emotions and impressions. These miniatures are like a sip of ouzo, they are musical pearls with a slice of magma, a journey to the modern Acropolis, but also the madness of Hellas".

Anthimos plays virtually everything you hear on the album himself, accompanied only by Robert Szewczuga on bass guitar. The album is thus naturally guitar focused, but his keyboards and drums skills should not be allowed to go unnoticed.

The tracks are bite sized chunks (hence the title) of simple themes which are developed by Anthimos through improvisation. While we do not therefore have the lengthy pieces we associate with SBB, there is a familiarity to the resultant music here.

The tracks range from the challenging ("Circles") to the relatively accessible, "Far eastern road" featuring some pleasant multi tracked lead guitar. On tracks such as "Midnight walking", Anthimos is keen to bring to the fore his drumming skills, the lead guitar effectively becoming the supporting instrument.

It is fair to say that this album will not be to everyone's taste. From a prog perspective, while the tracks are based on improvisation they are not developed through changes of time signature or complex arrangements. The focus is primarily on the jazz influences Anthimos has absorbed more than the rock ones. This is though a highly accomplished work in its field, and recommended to those who enjoy guitar based fusion.