Composition
Lindsey Boullt | Independent (2007)
By
Glenn Astarita
San Francisco area guitarist and educator
Lindsey Boullt has assembled an interesting
support lineup on Composition that radiates an
Indo-progressive rock musical plane. Former
Santana percussionist Mingo Lewis and
Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist Jerry
Goodman assist with the ensemble’s keen
enactment of world music and power-lined
progressive rock.
Boullt’s loud, chunka-chunka chord voicings and super-speed single note
heroics nicely contrast sitarist Peter Van Gelder and vocalist Sukhawat Ali
Khan’s East Indian permutations on select tracks. And with Goodman’s
streaming violin passages, the band often boasts a rocketing attack amid an
expansive, wall-of-sound backdrop.
On “Call for Peace,” the weighty Eastern modalities and rhythmic element
are dappled with tricky time signatures and Khan’s echo-chamber like, East
Indian chants. Yet Boullt’s divergent mix also features bombastic, 1970s
style rock motifs amid the appealing ballad “Farewell,” where he carves out
the primary melody via sustain-drenched single note lines. In other areas,
the guitarist sparks a feeding frenzy mode of execution, shaded with
distortion/delay techniques to complement a few torrid exchanges with
Goodman and keyboardist Derek Sherinian.
Ultimately, Boullt keeps it short and sweet by getting his point across in
concise fashion, sans your typical prog-rock type wanking. Within the body
of the program, he zooms in on the compositional aspects in lieu of
cranking out one guitar-driven gymnastic after another. Boullt can,
however, hold his own with many of the present day guitar gods. Then
again, it’s about the art of good taste, swathed into a potpourri of
articulately-crafted dynamics that engender the Midas touch here.
Visit
Lindsey Boullt
on the web.
Track listing: Page Revisited; Chasing the Whirling Dervish; Moving
Panvishnu; Call for Peace; Bravo Davo de la Torre; Aurora's Aura;
Groovin' with Stu; Taste the Hate; Farewell; Cleopatra's Third Eye.
Personnel: Lindsey Boullt: guitars; Jerry Goodman: violin; Derek Sherinian:
keyboards; Stu Hamm: bass; Atma Anur: drums; Jeremy Colson: drums;
Jon Herrera: bass; Sukhawat Ali Khan: vocals; Peter Van Gelder: sitar;
Mingo Lewis: percussion.
Style:
Fusion/Progressive Rock | Published: December 09, 2007
