IN-DREAMVIEW

One-man band Matt Stober is nothing short of a force of nature. If you're familiar with 4 A.D.'s 1980s instrumental band DIF JUZ, or early PAT METHENY, you're going to love this album.

Line-up / Musicians - Matt Stober / guitar, vibraphone, drums, piano, electric sitar, cello, bass, fretless bass, glockenspiel

1. "Steppe" (3:57) melodic guitar-centric Jazz-Rock Fusion blending the sounds of Pat Metheny with 4 A.D.'s Dif Juz (9.5/10)

2. "October" (4:05) more DIF JUZ-like music. This is great stuff! Such nice listening material! (9.25/10)

3. "Waterspout" (4:24) swirling guitar effects that sound like a saw or an Anna Von Hausswolff organ open this one before gentle drum play and multiple tracks of arpeggiating guitar, bass, and xylophone join in to create a dreamy sequence. Nice. (8.75/10)

4. "Arcs of Neptune" (4:01) perhaps a little too mellow and simplistic--especially when compared to the opening two songs. (8.6667/10)

5. "Mirror Tunnel" (3:44) pleasant enough but I was beginning to expect a little more flash from this very competent musician. (8.5/10)

6. "Line in the Sky" (3:56) quite a different rhythmic and sound palette with bouncy piano chord-play leading the way. Still tons of reverb, which is nice--even on an upright piano! (8.75/10)

7. "Tarn" (4:01) Metheny-ish sitar sound with Dif Juz piano, nice jazzy drum play in a song that evolves in the second minute into that "talks": the slowly capitulated melody being emitted in the same way that a person's speaking voice would. Very 1980s Metheny-ish. Also very much like the output of Yves Potin's Computer.org project. (8.875/10)

8. "Oxbow Lake" (3:56) Here's where the music starts to blend, one song into another, as the DIF JUZ-like pattern of instrumental guitar chord & melody play. Don't get me wrong: I LOVE this sound palette; it's just that by this point in the album it's all beginning to recede--to fall into a kind of pleasant, relaxing background music. (8.75/10)

9. "Antarctic" (4:06) my favorite rhythm tracks on the album: hypnotic and gorgeous--even with the second motif in the second and third minutes. (9/10)

10. "Long Field" (7:51) the atmospheric, almost space-ambient opening to this one is quite lovely--and a total preview of Matt's three (so far) Guitar & Ambient Works series (2020-2022). At 3:45 we land with a jazzy quite perfectly reminiscent of PAT METHENY's early GROUP work sound (the lineup with Danny Gottlieb and Marc Egan). At 6:15 this then devolves back into the synth-generated opening space-ambient motif. (13.25/15)

Total Time 44:01

Reminding one of early Pat Metheny, this music is not revolutionary but it is damned nice listening. B/four stars; a solid contribution of Post Rock-tinged Jazz-Rock Fusion. An album I doubt I'll ever tire of.

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