Hommages
Meyer, 2025
9/10
The inimitable composer Anthony Joseph Lanman takes help from Holly Roadfeldt’s piano for these selections that touch on a variety of subjects including Hildegard of Bingen, Frank Zappa,
Kehinde Wiley, Gary Gygax, Nadia Boulanger, Akira Kurasowa, Eddie Van Halen, Michio Kaku, Neil Peart, John Dowland, Tony Kushner, Jackson Pollock, and more
“Hommage A Hildegard of Bingen” starts the listen with gentle keys that radiate much intimacy and wonder in the very capable hands, and it isn’t long until “Hommage A Jackson Pollock” injects a swirling aspect to the mesmerizing keys.
Closer to the middle, “Hommage A Michio Kaku” is full of ambience and colorful progressions that are both animated and reserved, while “Hommage A Gary Gygax” offers firm gestures of cinematic qualities that emit exciting ideas for the album highlight.
Arriving near the end, “Hommage A Frank Zappa” is about as unconventional as Zappa himself, where turbulent keys flow with precision and adventurousness, and “Hommage A Hayao Miyazaki” exits with a percussive angle amid the dense and frisky finger acrobatics.
An extremely accomplished listen that recruits no lack of melodies, the click of a metronome and looper pedal manipulation, Lanman and Roadfeldt make each track present artistic, sonically intriguing and atypical in the best ways.
Travels well with: Sean Hickey- Sapiens: A Brief History Of Humankind; Chelsea Hollow- Cycles Of Resistance