Great Review of “Seven” in Akustik Gitarre

IAN MELROSE

Seven

(Acoustic Music)

He doesn’t have to prove anything any more. He doesn’t have to explain either. Nevertheless, he explains why this seventh Ian Melrose album is called “Seven”. But who cares about that in the face of such music? The unbroken joy of composing is demonstrated by his own lively folk-jazz waltz, “The Butterfly” in the best Jansch/Renbourn tradition, the fun of arranging in a divinely refined and yet catchy and relaxed version of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”. He succeeds in playing classical music with such dignity and ease as hardly any concert guitarist could (“Adagio”). He doesn’t shy away from the hackneyed either: whether another “Manha da Carnival” or another “Danny Boy” was necessary, one wonders – and then capitulates before the disarmingly authentic stylish dexterity with which the Scot transcribes and arranges it. And before the nonchalance with which the album goes from Ireland to Brazil, from Celtic to Argentine (“Aire de Berlin Milonga”) and finally to the notorious rock monster “Smoke on the Water”, which in this version has the makings of a fingerstyle classic. All this flows so unashamedly casually from Ian Melrose’s hand that even the experienced listener easily loses sight of the dizzyingly high technical prowess behind it. And sound engineer Jörg Surrey mixes the sound of Melrose’s Avalon and Kreul steel-strings beautifully into a magical triangle between hi-tech clarity, sympathetic liveliness and a touch of mysticism.

Michael Lohr