A New Awakening
Self-Released, 2023
10/10
The esteemed Colorado guitarist Charles Brown returns with a 10th solo album, where his progressive ways flirt with blues and heavy metal across the 11 instrumentals where he plays bass, synth and drums, too.
The album wastes no time making an impression with the dense guitar acrobatics and thumping drums of the soaring “The Darkest Winter”, and “A New Awakening” follows with 8+ minutes of cautious, lush prog-rock that’s dynamic and meticulous.
“Sea Of Myst” occupies the middle portion, as does “Edge Of Time”, where the former showcases Brown’s stunning finger acrobatics in a dreamy climate, while the latter buzzes with a more firm approach that touches on hard rock sensibilities via Brown’s incredible attention to detail.
Close to the end, the chunky bass lines of “What The FUNK” helps illuminate the bright textures and incredible drumming of the album’s best, and “Touch The Sunrise” exits with more intimate gestures of beauty and grace from the diverse vision of song craft.
A truly incredible body of work, acoustic and electric guitars are used plentifully, and classical, jazz and plenty of variations of rock are all in attendance and very much appreciated.
Travels well with: Carl Weingarten- Stop Me Try; Matt Smith- Being Human