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Ancient Future — Yearning for the Wind
(Ancient-Future.Com Records AF 20302, 2014, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2014-07-24

Yearning for the Wind Cover art

World fusion ensemble Ancient Future, led by guitarist Matthew Montfort, has been a going concern since the late 70s, although nobody could accuse them of flooding the market with product. From their first LP release in 1980 until today, they have only released seven full length releases. Since their previous release Planet Passion in 2001, they have chosen to make new material available to supporters by subscription only, via A.F.A.R. (the Archive of Future Ancient Recordings), an archive of alternate takes, live concerts, radio performances and new studio recordings as they are created. Yearning for the Wind, a single extended track based on North Indian raga and set in a nine beat rhythmic cycle, is the group’s first commercially available release in over a dozen years, an enhanced CD with audio and video. Featured are Montfort on scalloped fretboard guitar, and master tabla player Vishal Nagar. The piece starts slowly with an acoustic guitar solo that emphasizes the pitch-bending qualities of the scalloped fretboard, later joined by the tabla a couple minutes in, and slowly evolving through numerous sections where the tabla and guitar alternate lead roles. A light rhythm guitar part was overdubbed, so essentially we have a trio of two guitars and tabla for the duration. Adding the visual aspect of the video brings in a whole new dimension to the proceedings, and highlights the intense rhythmic complexity that Nagar brings to the table. The exhaustive liner notes in the booklet explain the details of the piece, section by section. The only minus, perhaps, is that it’s all over in about ten minutes — although one can’t complain about the quality of what’s here. For fans of world fusion music, it doesn't get much better than this.

Filed under: New releases, 2014 releases

Related artist(s): Ancient Future

 

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