CD
Roslyn Krantz
SHADAWMON - SIAM ESCAPEARTIST - Islandelights
Shadawmon's Siam Escapeartist is surely more of an experience
than I expected from the liner notes. From beginning to end, Shadawmon weaves
a palatial thread of musical intransigence gliding the listener through a
number of diverse realms, textures, and paths all summed leave you feeling
you just want more. This artist has some deep roots that gently cross east,
west, rock, blues, and international genre borders.
In listening to the Siam Escapeartist CD, I tried to associate the source
of the influences that shaped his sound, and they are many, yet he has convincingly
carved out his own niche. The first cut, Girl In My Dreams has vocal
shades reminiscent of Procol Harum and Stevie Winwood - and the guitar work
reflects a bit of Clapton and Santana textures - but once fully experienced,
I realized he touts a lot of the 'electric gypsy' open string technique associated
with Gabor Zabo. I recall Carlos Santana making reference to Gabor Zabo and
BB King both about his own stylized roots.
The fingered style of guitar riffs Shadawmon so casually articulates are but
a small part of his musical expression. He is a proficient multi-keyboardist
exemplifying just the right touch of authentic blues, jazz, and gospel riffs
in his solos, yet the simple chord progressions are at the core of well-constructed
east west arrangements.
This artist has obviously traversed the music world as he seamlessly ebbs between acoustic balladry and melodic instrumental rhythms that radiate Caribbean, Latin, R&B, and roots blues-rock all neatly intertwined. Then when you least expect it, the song Happy Day - steps it up with a reggaeish contemporary bass & snare accent on the 3rd beat that gets yours toes tapping to a tune that could easily have been covered by Al Jarreau.
I am impressed with Shadawmon's campaign to detach from the
clich'ed paradigm - debuting with such provocative originality.
Shadawmon - Siam Escapeartist - Islandelights Records
Roslyn Krantz rokraz
- Globe Star Review