Just Outside

Most of my previous encounters with Myhr's work have given the impression of a warm, very musical personality and this release delivers that in spades. Solo 12-string acoustic guitar, six pieces, all of them engaging and, well, pretty even. Two of the tracks, «Weaving into Choir» and «Sleep nothing, eat nothing» consist of rapidly strummed chords, very steady-state in one way, though shifting within all the time; reminds me a bit of those classic Laraaji zither sides, very tasty indeed. «Descent», «Blinky» and «Leaping into Periphery» are more ruminative, each taking a discreet note pattern, calm, graceful and echoing, and repeating it again and again, digging into it and, just barely, elaborating on it. It's an interesting approach, a kind of dissection of a line; it sometimes took me a while to realize the self-referential aspect of the music, it flows so naturally. All three are very attractive, very thoughtful. But my favorite might be the closer, «Harbor Me». A «simple», clean four-note phrase that absolutely sounds like its presaging a song--I really expected to hear a voice, baritone, enter the track--instead allowing slowly strummed chords to emerge, bloom-like and ghostly. It lolls there, contemplative and content--beautiful piece.

And an extremely attractive offering: open, considered and refreshingly heedless of trends. Don't let it slip by.