Grant-Lee Phillips - Lightning Show Us Your Stuff - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS - ALL THAT YOU CAN DREAM - Grant-Lee Phillips' new album, All That You Can Dream, is a turbulent and highly musical rumination that finds the veteran singer-songwriter addressing the strange fragility of life. The collection of songs bears the markings of his prolific output, a melodic prowess and an ear for lyric in everyday conversation. Comparable to the works Low or Duster, Phillips offers a salve to a wounded world, struggling to regain equilibrium. This is Grant-Lee Phillips at his most reflective, wrestling with the most pertinent of questions. Focusing on life in quarantine (InchA Sudden Place,Inch InchCruel TrickInch) and the ever-shifting political landscape (InchRats in a Barrel,Inch InchCut to the EndingInch), this collection shows that Phillips remains one of the finest singer-songwriters of our time.

I'm drawing from the urgency of the moment,Inch says acclaimed Nashville-based singer-songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips of Widdershins, his ninth solo album. Inspired by Inchthe things that eat away in the late hours,Inch Phillips invests the insight, nuance and wit in a riveting dissection of today's fraught social landscape. Recorded over four days at Sound Emporium in Nashville, the 12-track set was produced by Phillips (guitar, vocals, keyboards) and cut largely live in the studio as a trio with Jerry Roe (drums) and Lex Price (bass). Mixed by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists) and engineered by Mike Stankiewicz, the album delivers it's poetic truths in Phillips' peerless melodic sensibilities, relayed via vocal performances that balance intensity and vulnerability. Lead single InchTotally You GunslingerInch for instance is a backhanded salute with a mix that combines Roy Orbison with The Smiths. InchI made a commitment to myself not to sink into despair,Inch explains Phillips, InchI'm tracing a longer narrative here. We've been through some of this before - not just our country, but the civilization as a whole.Inch Phillips sees in Widdershins a connection to his earliest work with Grant Lee Buffalo. InchThat was also a time of intense social anxiety. The Gulf War, the LA riots - everything became cranked up. Then a few years later there was the earthquake we lived through, which also made for a time of uneasiness. I was in a heightened state when I wrote that stuff - as I am now.

Hungarian pianist Peter Józsa, born in 1975 has been giving concerts all over Europe since the age of 16. In 2013 he was appointed professor at the University of Art in Graz, Austria and now presents a doube album by the title InchPortraitInch featuring works that have had a significant influence on the artist in the course of his career. These include the Sonatas in B minor, Hob. XVI 32 and A flat major, Hob. XVI 46 by Joseph Haydn, the Sonata in A minor D 537 by Franz Schubert and the 7 Fantasies op. 116 by Johannes Brahms. On the second half of the there are virtuoso pieces by Frédéric Chopin such as Impromptu No. 2 Op. 36, the Fantaisie Impromptu in C sharp minor Op. Posth. 66, the Fantaisie f minor Op. 49 and the Polonaise Fantaisie in A flat major Op. 61 as well as rather calm, contemplative works by Franz Liszt, which illuminate his poetic and religious side. Thus this portrait ends with Les Funérailles, Ave Maria in E major, Les jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este, Nuages gris and Recueillement.