The Israel born Nili Brosh moved to Boston at a very young age, she graduated Suma Cum Laude on the Berklee College of Music and became one of the youngest faculty members in the Berklee summer guitar programs. In the meanwhile, she played with Tony MacAlpine, Seven The Hard Way and The Iron Maidens, later on she joined Cirque du Soleil's production Michael Jackson: One as the roster's lead guitarist. Spectrum is her third solo album. I guess Spectrum is a very accurate chosen album tittle, just for the reason the album sees a very wide range of musical varieties. Not all progressive intentionally, but for someone who is interested in guitar music, this is a great addition. Cartagena and the following Andalusian Fantasy take you to the south of Spain. Even though both compositions are inspired by the classic Spanish composers, both songs each set a different musical sphere. With Circus Wedding and Rachel In Paris we travel a bit to the north. French music, fine jazzy elements from the first part of the previous century are highlighted. The additional violin and accordion preserve this feeling. Solace in a brilliant track in my opinion, at first the melodic catchy guitar melodies are surrounded by electronic percussive parts, but halfway a fine furious fusion related guitar solo takes over. The change of spheres that started with Solace is continued throughout the rest of the album, so is Retractable Intent a very strong instrumental rock song with numerous elements from fusion to electronics. Perfectly done by the Italian keyboard wizard Alex Argento, who also is responsible for the programming on the album. With Desert Déjà Vu the playful combination of the previous track continues, resulting is brilliant guitar solos as well as very strong keyboard parts. Djentrification starts with an IceFish reminding part; hello Alex, but shortly after the track becomes danceable and sees an interesting combination of dance/trance with instrumental guitar music. This musical theme really comes to life during Nili's single/video clip Primal Feels, crossing the bridge from instrumental perfection to accessibility and modern radio friendly music. In my opinion a revolutionary composition. The final track, Resistance Piece also sees some very groovy programming, this time a bit more moody. Still, the trance effects remain and Nili shows where she is capable off. Spectrum has turned out to be an album with several faces. Classical Spanish, traditional French have embraced the techno and trance elements of the last five songs. Nili is an amazing guitarist, but she also takes a few steps back when it comes to the composition. Never soloing just for showing off and giving Alex Argento all the freedom to shine as well. Although this is a Nili Brosh solo album, Alex's input must have been almost equally to Nili's. As a result, I love the diversity of the album, well done! **** Pedro Bekkers (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
