Guitarist and composer Marc Ribot is an eclectic soul equally at home playing punk rock, free jazz or more melodic fare. This intriguing album presents Ribot in a solo context with some subtle overdubbing or sound manipulation added to give the music an atmospheric feel. He writes in the liner notes that this project was inspired by films, both real and imagined, and he hoped to explore the nether regions between language, images and sound. What results is a dreamy and atmospheric meditation on the music of film. Tracks like “Flicker" have a mysterious soundscape built on a repetitive figure. It builds an ominous power from a medium tempo beginning, then high pitched notes float above a reflective strum. “Solaris" recalls the enigmatic story of the film and book with spacious and stark probing guitar floating through space. “Requiem for a Revolution" moves through an eerie winter landscape with subtle sounds framing Ribot's guitar in a spare and subtle nature. Cool loping strides of music coming dusty and wide usher in “Fat Man Blues," reminiscent of some of the soundtrack work of Ry Cooder. “Radio" also keeps the dusty time worn feel, placing the guitar at a distance, like something heard from an old time cylinder or cracking 78 PRM record on an old time blues radio show. Science Fiction informs “The Kid" with swirling sounds developing a spare and longing backdrop for Ribot's guitar probe. This was a very thoughtful and imaginative album that mocks at the idea of categorization, drawing on many different genres and musical ideas in order to create a world all its own.<allaboutjazz.com>
Solo guitar records can be an acquired taste. Frequently viewed like manna for players and obsessives, the sometimes spare, technical nature of the effort can separate the music listener from the musician-listener, and the casual fan from the fanatic.
With a tough-to-pin-down back catalog that includes detours through Cuban jazz, six-stringed Albert Ayler tributes and stints lending his stinging tone to atmospheric songwriters like Tom Waits and Joe Henry, Marc Ribot is the sort of guitarist who merits following wherever he turns. Often eager to explore the noisier side of things in prior outings, Ribot turns inward for “Silent Movies,” a collection of 13 instrumentals compiled from the guitarist’s library of never-used film scores or otherwise film-inspired pieces. At times the results are spare, even minimalist, and if not immediately redolent of a crowded movie house then still evocative as with the contemplative “Flicker,” where Ribot’s plucked guitar twinkles against a gentle overdub of what could be the hum of passing traffic.
At its best, the record deals in darker fare such as with the feedback-laden mini-epic “Natalia in E Flat Major,” which carries the same steely edge as Neil Young’s “Dead Man” soundtrack, or the ominous walking blues of “Requiem for a Revolution.” Ribot’s work here may not always cry for attention like some effects-laden summer blockbuster, but it can be a quietly immersive art house favorite in the right hands. -- Chris Barton
1. (01:51) Variation 1
2. (03:18) Delancey Waltz
3. (05:22) Flicker
4. (02:04) Empty
5. (05:16) Natalia in Eb Major
6. (03:47) Solaris
7. (05:31) Requiem for a Revolution
8. (04:49) Fat Man Blues
9. (04:59) Bateau
10. (04:05) Radio
11. (08:31) Postcard from N.Y.
12. (04:16) The Kid
13. (06:46) Sous le ciel de Paris
