Kastning, Kevin/Carl Clements: A Far Reflection

Kevin Kastning is an American guitarist born in 1961 in Kansas. He has built up a formidable body of work in the jazz genre but has also touched upon classical and chamber music. On his new album A Far Reflection he has teamed with Carl Clements who adds a variety of wind instruments like tenor and soprano saxophones and alto and Bansuri flutes.

Dissonant, haunting, moody and brooding are just a few words I can use to describe this music. With only two musicians you can well imagine the music is quite sparse with plenty of space between the notes. The tracks are quite similar to one another so describing individual tunes does seem to be a bit futile. I will say the first track "Should Not the Ancient" is representative of what you will find here; moody and spacious guitar notes blended with sax and flute exuding a grey-like quality that wraps the soundscape in a pastoral blanket of sound. Although I am not overly familiar with chamber music this certainly would seem a prime candidate. Other tracks seem born out of mystical properties and are more exotic, like the Eastern infused "Rendered in Forms".

Although there is a pastoral element at work, this is far from an easy listen and might require plenty of patience for the uninitiated. Whether or not I will reach for this again is almost beside the point as there is no doubting the prowess of the musicians involved hence the 3.5 star rating. If you dig acoustic music bordering on the ethereal, by all means check it out.

A Greydisc Records release.

Track Listing:
1. Should Not the Ancient (4:27)
2. Pretext and Figures (6:48)
3. An Open Window of the Past (5:27)
4. Solves Into Zero (5:31)
5. The Swirling Return to Yourself (7:32)
6. Rendered in Forms (6:27)
7. A Misted Gaze Within (8:46)
8. Constellation and Distance (4:36)
9. Surrendering Realms of a Near Presence (7:45)
10. From a Falling Gesture (5:48)
11. Into the Early (7:15)

Added: March 6th 2016
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Official Site
Hits: 1780
Language: english

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