Quebec-born Tim Brady is one of the world’s leading authorities on contemporary composition for the electric guitar. His intellectual and academic rigour, originality, and playful pleasure in music and the instrument make him one of the most outstanding creators of the early 21st century.
Imagine Many Guitars projects us into a kaleidoscopic universe of psychedelic colours and metamorphic matter, like a nebula where the musical galaxies of Reich, Glenn Branca and Ligeti merge. A veritable whirlwind of emotions and sensations overloaded with energy. “This One is Broken in Pieces: Symphony # 11” kicks off the rich program with a vast display of sound for eight guitars (with pedals) and a soprano choir. Like a timbral tide, the work breathes through harmonic contractions and relaxations, supported by rhythmic contrasts between long, held choral notes and hesitant, psychotic guitar pulsations. This is as much rigorous contemporary music as it is shoegaze. The effect is wonderfully hallucinatory.
“Slow / Simple,” for 20 electric guitars is of the same ilk, minus the vocals. That said, Brady sprinkles his painting with prominent colours that pop up all over the room. These can take on the allure of a cymbalom or other “exotic” traditional instrument.
“Five Times: Four Guitars” is a suite in five short movements of the character “Enigmatic” Anywhere / Everywhere / Obsessive / Alone. Bathed in generous reverberation, the melodic outbursts seem to flow in a free, uninhibited, almost sensual verve. I was reminded of Eric Clapton’s guitar sound in the Lethal Weapon series (music by Michael Kamen). There’s something warm, muggy, and nocturnal, L.A. style, in this pleasant score.
“[very] Short Pieces for (jazz) Guitar” is an early work by Tim Brady (not that he’s very old, but hey, it dates from 1979…) and betrays an interest in the thing in four very short pieces (the longest is 1:33).
Several years ago (1997), Guitar Player included Tim Brady in its list of the 30 most important guitarists of the future. The future is here, my friends. Here’s a striking example.
