Most
instrumental rock albums aren't worth the time it takes to listen to them. They're usually too pretentious, with pickers trying to play free-form
jazz/
blues licks without the ability to remain focused.
Jim Campilongo, the
cowboy noir picker from San Francisco who moved to New York to become an in-demand session player and frequent collaborator with
Norah Jones, doesn't have that problem. The tracks on this mostly instrumental set are packed with ideas and occupy a unique musical landscape that combines Western American twang, Spaghetti Western atmosphere,
surf guitar dynamism, jazzy dissonance. and a blue, cinematic sweep that's almost visual in its approach.
Campilongo knows enough to keep his compositions short and sweet, concentrating on dynamics, mood, and tension to keep the tunes interesting.
"Heaven Is Creepy," the title tune, has a sinister, late-night, film noir feel, accented by bassist
Tim Luntzel's swooping, low notes and drummer
Dan Rieser's minimal percussion.
Campilongo's bent notes scream through the air like a wounded ambulance limping away from the scene of an accident.
"Nellie Bly" has the feel of a
Texas swing dance tune, with
Campilongo producing pedal steel-like notes on his guitar, and tapping the strings to produce harmonics that hang in the air over the double-time cadence of the rhythm section.
"The Prettiest Girl in New York" sounds like
Django Reinhardt and
Les Paul dueling for supremacy in an Tulsa honky tonk. At first,
"Mr & Mrs Mouse" brings to mind the theme music of a '60s spy flick, then it switches gears into a sinister, clanging,
Link Wray-like interlude, slowly becoming as quiet as the proverbial mouse with
Campilongo getting violin-like tones out of the guitar, possibly with the use of an Ebow, while
Luntzel and
Rieser freak out in the background. Every tune shows off
Campilongo's dynamic range with unexpected shifts of tone, timbre, and tempo, always driving the music forward even as it twists and turns back on itself like a drunken rattlesnake chasing its own tail. The guest vocalists allow the guitarist to show off his discreet talents as an accompanist.
Martha Wainwright sings
Stephen Foster's
"Beautiful Dreamer" in an emotional,
vaudevillian manner, while
Campilongo lays back, dropping sparse harmonic overtones around her vocals.
Norah Jones moans the vocal of
"Cry Me a River" while
Campilongo alternates between quiet strummed chords and lazy, reverb soaked single note runs. ~ j. poet
