Kevin Ferguson - Subtle Hint (2006)Debone Music

If you are forced to wait for your preferent artist's music for a few years, but finally you get a great music in return for your patience, you can feel satisified, and a musician feels an artistic fulfilment. It is exactly so with "Subtle Hint".

Kevin's six-year composing and concert activity didn't go to waste. As usual, Kevin plays acoustic and electric guitars, but, this time, he also presents himself as a multiinstrumentalist being able to play as well such instruments like hand percussion, violin, cello and synths. Mr. Ferguson invited his old buddy - Chris Goldthorpe (bass), and some new musicians - Kevin Cosgrove (drums), Tzara (tablas) and Noah Peterson (sax). The line-up differs this CD from the previous ones. Next different factor is connected with the compositions. Namely, 16 out of 20 tracks are American's original ones. We can quickly peek at the tracklist and we have just got to know that music on "Subtle Hint" is very diversified. The opening "Liberation" is an example of melodic instrumental hard rock up to the top scratch, directly referring to the eighties. The following one - "Fugued Rachenitsa" was called "modern fusion" by Mr. Ferguson himself, and I guess that a task of epithet "modern" is differentiating fusion style connected with jazz music from American's offer, that is a mixture of baroque tones and Macedonian folk music. We stay in baroque in "Chaconne" by Johann Sebastian Bach. Chaconne is a Spanish dance from the 13th century, but it was evolved (in the 14th century) into instrumental variation form based on so-called basso continuo, that is an executive technique consisting in recurring (in a progress of the composition) one piece of the lowest - bass voice. Including "Chaconne" in the tracklist doesn't surprise me, the more so because a mentioned piece can be come across in jazz and folk music that are deeply being explored by Mr. Ferguson indeed. Common subject in a contemporary music is technological development, so American hasn't avoided it in his work. "Technology Has Replaced Us All" is a track entirely based on synths, but it shows a wide spectrum of musical abilities and Ferguson's ingenuity. "Kedar Tease" is the example of instrumental hard rock and Hindu raga, that is a melodic model in music where an instrumentalist creates a ground for improvisations on its foundation. Raga is closely related to Hindu symbolism and ethics as well. With "Ben's Journey" we can go on interesting journey with acoustic guitar in new age style of Govi. This track proves that musicians can bring something fresh to musical art, omitting to duplicate mindlessly patterns from the past, but they have to be open to unknown styles and giving a will to learn them. Its next confirmation is Latin American "Gotchya Cha Cha" in which the acoustic ground harmonizes very well with the electric one. If you are fans of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy", Mr. Ferguson invites you to a pretty pleasant "Inferno" in a composition titled "Dante's Nightmare". "Awaiting The Past" is the example of smooth jazz, that is elevator music whose task was increasing the productivity of workers in American plants. In other words, it was meant for motivating them as a driving force. There is further "Dafino Vino Tsrveno" that confirms Ferguson's passion for Macedonian folk music. In the year 1863 a French composer, Camille Saint-Saëns composed one of his most famous works titled "Introduction et rondo capriccioso" for violin and orchestra. Mr. Ferguson has made it a neoclassical diamond performed in idyllic mood. The one, equally brilliant, is "Heated Discussions" (based on counterpoint) in which Kevin presents us his "voices dance". "Mayday Macedonia" is a cogent evidence of possibility to gather many influences in one track - the Balkan, classical, jazz and metal music. One of my favourite one is "Vivaldi Style" that is a reference to one of Italian's violin concerto and a kind of Antonio Vivaldi's style summary. Ferguson successfully managed to include all of most important elements from Vivaldi's manner. "Ubava Pizza Rachenizza" is a successful trial of a combination of Macedonian dance and baroque canon that is contrapuntal piece in which a melody in one part is simulated precisely in other ones. In one of the last tracks called "So Much For Justice", Ferguson puts together instrumental poetry with African drums sound. Obviously, I can't forget about tabla - a Hindu instrument made of wooden, clay and copper parts. A musician hits them with a hand's bunches or fingers. Using this instrument also showes that Ferguson's music has some features typical of world music and progressive style. When I think of "progressive" word in this case, I mean no traditional progressive rock, but a music progressive in its structure and avantgarde in a case.

With this item and the whole of his works, Kevin Ferguson has proved he is a man of original personality, and the one who composes unconventional music that is worth waiting for ages!