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I’ve already said all the good things I think about guitarist Julian Lage’s album View with a Room<\/em>, released last year. It was one of my favorites of 2022, and was one of our top 100 albums of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Layers<\/em> is from the same recording sessions, with drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus) and bassist Jorge Roeder, and guitarist Bill Frisell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it’s just as good, even better, for my taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s an EP with 6 pieces, 25 minutes. But what a guitaristic delight!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s like A View with a Room<\/em>, but a bit slowed down. Three of the six pieces are on acoustic guitar. There is space for every note and even for silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s always tempting for a virtuoso guitarist to multiply the notes in twists and turns until they are exhausted. Here, it seems as if each note in this quartet complements the other. It is a complex architecture in which no sound is too much. All these layers make sense. Every cymbal strike, every double bass note counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Missing Voices” is probably the most experimental piece, with strummed strings and extremely high notes, dissonances. The complementarity between Lage and Frisell is exemplary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is clear that all three musicians are at the service of Julian Lage, and they do their job admirably. Bill Frisell, who is normally a leader, who has explored all the American musical genres, shows here generosity towards Julian Lage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s like a filial relationship: Frisell is seventy-two, Julian Lage is thirty-five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that’s really what’s exciting: Lage still has plenty of time ahead of him to explore and amaze us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can’t wait to hear the rest. In the meantime, enjoy every note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n