DEAN WATSON — Imposing Elements (review)

DEAN WATSON — Imposing Elements album cover Album · 2012 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
BlueNote
To start off with the bad things, I have to say I don't really like fusion. For me, its aesthetics make it look as though it can't decide whether it will fall into jazz, or prog (Porcupine Tree-esque prog to be precise in this case) category. If I could advise something to this artist, what to do to better fit my taste - Please, do something more clear in genre, either prog or jazz (which I would like the most).

But now time has come for the good things - if you are not familiar with this artist, I have to make sure you know at least one thing about him - he plays every instrument on this record himself. Yes, that's right, pretty impressive, isn't it? Sheer musicianship glows from every lick and phrase played and one can only admire artist like this.

Whole album is very pleasant to listen. Every track has it's own kind of sound and you don't feel like listening to the same things for whole album. You feel like going on a musical trip. Which is great - I like my music to be unpredictable in some way. But this also means, I cannot choose my favourite track (although I love the guitar on Push Too). My favourite track would be the album as a whole.

To summarize: I like Dean's style, I like his approach to composition and I'm really dazzled by his skills and what he achieved in this great record, but to be really blown away, I need something either more jazzy, or proggy.

You remind me of peaople like Steven Wilson and I'm really looking forward to your next work and I'd love to hear it even if you don't follow my recommendations.

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