American Quartet (studio album) by Yonatan Gat

From Arthurknight 11/22/2022 05:46

Ok so I may be one of the only big Yonatan Gat proponents on this site – a major part of his appeal is probably conditional on being a guitarist – but I sincerely think he's on the cutting edge of contemporary instrumental music, which is odd because so much of his sound is in short: regressive. While it's a bit of a generalisation to say this, I think it rings true as a trend. I contend that guitarists of the modern post-rock-Zeitgeist era try to compose guitar parts that obscure the guitar and its being played as the sound-source. Whether it's boutique pedals or production that clips out plucking and diminishes the sound of space – studio space – or just melodies that are not ambitious or excessively proud (the guitar solo is dead for a reason), once the veritable co-frontman, the guitarists of today's bands have names unknown to even their biggest fans. Yonatan Gat throws all that shadow-play out and makes music that centres the instrument and never lets you lose the visual image of a musician playing it, which is honestly – in this context of musical synthesisation – liberating to hear. It's only natural that, for this album, Gat re-arranged Antonin Dvořák's heavily folk-inspired classical suite into a improvisational masterstroke. With Greg Saunier of Deefhoof offering mesmeringly off-kilter rhythm parts and Mikey Coltun of Mdou Moctar fame on bass, there's really no weak spot on this album – excepting "Joke" (III Molto Vivace), which lacks complete thematic development. An essential listen for this year.