By: Steven Dillon
he first track of Rob Eberhard Young's Consistent Variation provides enough
evidence to understand why Windham Hill founder, Will Ackerman, wanted Rob
to be the first instrumental artist on his Imaginary Road label. In fact, Will was
so excited after listening to the original cassette recording that he took time away
from his vacation in Hawaii to phone him. The late, composer/guitarist Michael
Hedges loved the recording as well, and, according to Rob, "he told me that if I
didn't re-release it some day, there was a pretty good chance he'd murder me
with a serving spoon!" Rob, an acoustic guitarist from Naples, Florida, USA,
has recorded with Michael Hedges, Michael Manring, and Will Ackerman.
The story behind Consistent Variation is essentially about artistic freedom and
an opening of one's eyes to the beauty and creative possibilities offered by the
acoustic guitar. It is a story that I can personally relate to and one that I've heard
several times from players with similar backgrounds. Rob was part of a guitarist
duo in a Heavy Metal band whose success was starting to build when, playing a
sold out show in 1993, he found himself "totally unfulfilled and bored." The next
day he happened across a performance by an acoustic guitar player that, in his
words, "completely leveled me". So moved by what he had witnessed, he quit
the band, packed away his electric guitar, and started exploring his acoustic.
Using unconventional tunings and creating music outside of the boundaries he
had previously been confined by, he discovered his own voice and subsequently
wrote the tunes on this release. While this CD may be able to be filed under the
New Age label, the flavor and sound is raw, powerful, and, at times, filled with
groove. I particularly enjoyed the tunes that stuck in my head long after hearing
them and the tracks that had my foot bouncing -- qualities of well-written music.
Especially noteworthy are the melodic Silence, and the groove and techniques
used in Wandering Minds, Windsong, Natural Man and The Wish. Overall, this
is an impressive effort that sits well alongside anything that is currently being
written/released today, and it should satisfy those who love New Age as well as
listeners who like a little heavier flavor of acoustic guitar music.
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