Review Summary: Alone with my Bass....
Loneliness in music is an old concept, we find pop albums talking about how she or he is heartbroken, doom metal albums talking about self depravation, nihilism and inner depression, country albums talking about whisky and personal issues. The thing is that the expression of loneliness has been musically channeled a high number of times over the course of this century but not so often you find an album that does it right. Bass guitar player Evan Brewer of The Faceless fame did exactly this on Alone, rather than focusing on already pre-formulated clichés what we have here is a completely original piece of work, I would even call it avant-garde.
Alone is compromised of 10 songs, each song explores different bass techniques and playing styles and must of the tracks are highly technical, Evan adds textured ambient melodies to each track, sometimes subtly (currency) but other times they take an exclusive part of the song (Actualize).What makes this LP such an achievement is that it never gets boring, instrumental albums are known for getting repetitive or boring (and that is even though it depends on your opinion) people usually look for vocals. Alone melodic affair serves as a more than welcome substitute to vocals, they have spirit and emotion and back-up Evan virtuostic bass lines. But that is not all, in vertigo he adds what seems to be percussion and on the following songs he adds more electronic elements that flow and complement perfectly in relation with the bass. Alone instead of becoming redundant and tedious becomes diverse and varied.
As stated before Alone expresses loneliness, the notes change from what could be called just technical virtuosity into emotional riffs that are prominent over the 27 minutes of Alone. Those sections might be inspired by jazz, or at least the engineering on those parts makes them sound so. If you have heard Intronaut’s Valley of Smoke you will have a clear idea of the production on this record’s ambient passages and bass lines. Like flower petals brushed against your cheeks the ambient sections are delicate sensations, subtle nuances; but without them this album would not have captivated a couple of people (including me) plus honestly; bass playing (only) this album would have been tiresome.
What Evan Brewer crafted is a set of songs that stand out each . Alone is a bass album that provides the listener with interesting ideas and surprises him with dazzling notes of ambient bliss. It is an album that I would highly recommend to anyone that is interested in “good” music, Someone that appreciates a minimalist sound and projects something beautiful out of it. Alone is a not to be missed relaxing experience… a very accessible entry into bass guitar music and in the end: A very good beginning to Evan’s solo career.
