INVISIBLE SYMPHONY

Invisible Symphony is a beautiful album full of ear candy for every instrumental music lover. Steve Unruh offers up a genre jumping delight. The list of instruments Steve used to create these pieces include; steel-string, nylon-string, and electric guitars, violin, mandolin, electric bass, flute, drumkit, keyboard, hand percussion (doumbek, framedrum, congas, tambourine, wind chimes, finger cymbals). Varied in tone and mood, you never know what to expect, except that each tune will draw you along with his impressive ability to put together hook laden melodies with virtuosic flair.

"InstruMental Breakdown" has a country hoedown intro, but it quickly changes to a subtle pastoral theme. The funky bassline carries a throbbing edge and mandolin enters as the lead instrument. Violin resurfaces to bring the hoedown forward again. "Waiting" has to be one of the best melodies I've heard in years. Acoustic guitar and violin tradeoff on solos, effectively complimenting the melody line. Middle-Eastern motifs are explored on "Flute and Percussion Improv" and "Spinning." The aptly titled "Tragic Scene from some Movie" is a dark, haunting piece. Languid violin over undulating bass and hand percussives. "Squirel" is a tribute to Chris Squire. A bass guitar solo played in the instruments upper register and accompanied by piano. Unruh explores jazz with "Great Scott!" "Lotus Land II" completes an idea from a previous release. Windham Hill would love to include Steve's pieces, "12:00am and All's Well" and "The Water's Edge," on one of their new age compilations.

While not strictly a prog release, it is a wonderful album and may be worthy of 4 stars, but I'll play it safe and give Steve a solid 3.5 stars.