Virtuoso musicians present an interesting challenge for reviewers. I mean, they're perfect, what is there to critique? It's like yelling at God that life isn't fair and God replying, "Where were you when I created the Mixolydian scale?"
Armik is a Spanish flamenco guitarist, which tells you most everything you need to know; if you like flamenco music you'll probably enjoy "Amor de Guitarra." Armik is a fantastic player as well as a tasteful one. He rolls in and out of graceful passages, sometimes lingering over a phrase, other times wind-sprinting up the fretboard with surgical double-picked triplets. The six-string heroics emerge naturally from the mood of the songs; rarely does Armik seem to be showing off. His guitar tone is lovely, bright without being tinny, with a warm low end.
If "Amor de Guitarra" were competing at the Olympics, the grouchy Russian judge would be hard-pressed to take points off for technical merit.
The problem lies in the arrangements. Perhaps to keep costs down, Armik surrounds himself not with other musicians, but with synth-instruments, things like goofy-sounding fake horns and sequenced percussion. On songs like "Fragile Hearts" and the title track, the synths introduce a musical theme, Armik doubles it on guitar for a few bars and then blazes away for a while. The theme eventually returns, Armik takes a break, doubles the riff, then takes off again. It's a little odd to hear Armik's nuanced playing give way to such cheesy sounds.
Maybe this is the rock lover in me talking, but it would be so much more interesting to hear Armik in the context of a real band, with real percussion. The synths and the cold precision they provide may lower the overhead, but they rob the music of a vitality it might otherwise have had.
Still, there's no denying this guy's talent. Despite the odd production choices, the guitar-playing carries the day. Armik seems to be soloing at will through some of these pieces, but he sticks to the road on others. The brisk "Montego Bay" shows him dancing all around the song's central riff but never leaving it too far behind. "Gypsy Cafe" is a garden of lush chords interspersed with solo passages that dart between the rows like dragonflies.
And of course Armik puts an ominous, oddball track at the end of an album of sunny love-songs. The unaccompanied and strangely ambivalent "For You" is supposed to be the record's closing statement, but instead it feels like the first song on a more adventurous collection.
If you want to do some dancing, this album is right up your cobblestone Spanish alley. I can maybe see some "gettin' it on" value, as well. As something to actually sit down and listen to, though, "Amor de Guitarra" misses for me. It's too perfect. And may God forgive me.
|