The 10 Guitar Project

10 GUITAR PROJECT ____ Excelsior Hotel, May 27 ____ Reviewed by John Shand _________________________________________________ What's the collective noun for 10 electric guitarists? The unkind might suggest a 60-string racket, or even a catastrophe. Most people would be polarised into finding the idea either hellish or heavenly. The madman/prophet making it happen was David Reaston, who assembled the largest cast of notable Sydney guitarists ever seen in one place at one time, including Tim Rollinson (d.i.g.) and Julian Curwin (Monsieur Camembert, Tango Saloon). The little stage at the Excelsior looked like a forest, so dense was it with guitarists and, tucked behind a thicket of drums and cymbals, the exceptional Jamie Cameron. _______________________________________________ But the sound engineer did a sterling job and, against the odds, the 10 guitarists restrained their collective volume, so we could actually hear what Reaston had in mind. His compositions and arrangements embraced many options, ranging from a smattering of collective free improvisation to stonking unisons and on to the predictable employment of bass riffs, chords and solos. His own very acoustic sound made for an agreeable contrast with the prevailing sonic aesthetics, while the finest solo of the night came from Jess Green, whose singing sound developed an angry edge as her improvisation progressed, the whole imbued with a notable vivacity. _______________________________ If Reaston can keep the project going it would benefit from a greater use of counterpoint and a much more extensive exploitation of the instrument's galaxy of textural possibilities. Inevitably one also wonders whether, say, six guitars could not achieve very similar ends. Nonetheless the concept is more intriguing than it is mad, and could succeed mightily. _________________________________I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V4.4 (www.strikefile.com/myspace)