Description
Second full length from NY based guitarist Turnquist, who defies expectations with a set of hypnotic epics that owe more to classic minimalism than current notions of solo guitar. Forgoing most of the extended techniques of his debut, Turnquist concentrates on laying down a thick blanket of 12 string that sets up persistent loop-like patterns in the music. Simple and lovely strings, piano, and percussion accompaniment provide the melody, carrying most of the movement in the pieces. The palette of sounds and styles here is used with extraordinary control and restraint – the orchestrations are as reductionist as possible, with no cringe-inducing “string drama” or unnecessary virtuosity. The almost monomaniacal tremolo thrum of the guitar dominates the album, but there is a lengthy ambient breakdown that occurs midway through the 18 minute “The REM Cycle – Dream Phase” that is a thing of elliptical and drifting beauty. “As The Twilight Crane” is a bold statement even in the context of the frequent micro-parsing of styles in the sub-underground – there’s really not much else out there like it.
