kev rowland
Recorded during the same sessions that resulted in the release of the highly critically acclaimed 'Stone House', 'Lighthouse' again finds guitarist Mark Wingfield working with Markus Reuter (touch guitars) and Asaf Sirkis on drums. However, this time they have worked as a trio, so there is no room for bassist Yaron Stavi who appeared on the first album. Recorded in a single day, what we have here are three musicians, all at the very top of their game, who are challenging the preconceived ideas of music, and are bouncing off each other in what must have been an incredibly frenetic and inspiring environment.
Markus most often plays the role of lynch pin, holding the music into some semblance of constraint, while Mark rolls into multiple musical tangents as his fingers and mind wanders, finding their way through the maze of their mind, and then there is Asaf. The man is a multi-joined octopus, who hands and legs obviously do not belong to the same body, and I was intrigued to discover just how many times my attention was being drawn from what many would think was the lead instrument, and was instead marvelling at the complexity and many different styles he was bringing to the party.
This is jazz, it is fusion, it is progressive in its very truest sense, and is totally off the wall. This won't be for everyone, but to my mind and ears there is something incredibly special about this album, where the three of them are improvising both against and with each other, taking their instruments the limit of musicality. A stunning release.