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For Michael Hedges, the phenomenal guitarist from Oklahoma, the debut album of 1981 consists of eleven short instrumental tracks in which he showcases his acoustic guitar prowess, both in terms of technique and his joyful compositional flair.
Album recorded "live" in the studio, on only 2 tracks and without overdubs. Various styles are employed in the eleven tracks, so much so that one can speak of eclecticism regarding this album: ranging from fast-paced and rhythmic tracks (for example "Layover" or "The Funky Avocado") to meditative ones ("The Happy Couple", "Baby Toes") to rustic and bucolic tracks that live up to the album's title ("Eleven Small Roaches", "The Unexpected Visitor"); the acoustic guitar is the absolute star, with the addition of fretless bass played by Michael Manring on three tracks and, on the last one, the piano by George Winston.
There's also room for a kind of sonic abstractionism in the title track, which for a moment projects the album onto expressionist dimensions: but in general, the singability of the themes prevails, as well as the pleasantness of the rhythmic and harmonic combinations, the American's unique taste in constructing very dense music in a very focused duration, and in fact, the album overall is only 34 minutes long.
But it is the technique of Michael Hedges that amazes: open tunings, skillful use of harmonics, hammer on and pull off in abundance. Among these last two techniques, the first involves striking one or more strings with the right hand on the fretboard to make them resonate without plucking (okay, you're thinking of Eddie Van Halen, a brilliant virtuoso of this technique but on electric guitar, while Hedges did it on acoustic, which is more difficult); the second technique is the opposite of the first, as it makes the strings resonate by plucking them on the fretboard with the left hand.
Just a few examples of an extensive catalogue of skills: but what matters is that with this album and the noteworthy follow-up "Aerial Boundaries", Michael Hedges established himself as one of the most creative and original guitarists ever to appear on the scene.
Anyone who loves the six-string instrument and has missed this music, consider yourself warned.
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