by Hilary West
There's a stillness at the core of PANORAMA . The music is played out of the "zone"and exceeding the virtuosity of the musicians carves it's own identity. It has the limelight, the music is the star; Grier gives the music what it needs, and it isn't always the guitar. In "Jeff Davis" it;s a banjo - fiddle duet. In "King Wilkies Run" It's a mandolin - bass passage with the faintest hint of fiddle. That's followed by an inspired section of violin - bass; only later he gets back in and then the guitar is flavoured by an imperceptible dash of the Orient. He's everywhere on the instrument. You just kind of laugh in your mind when King Wilkie's finished running because that's when you realize you weren't breathing. One of the most profound elements of the project is the relationship between guitar and bass; David Grier and Todd Phillips. Musician and producer, artist and artist and fused philosophies. While Grier has his name in the big print on the label, the association between the two is inextricable. "The Skeleton" is a guitar bass duet but is also a partnership, the men and their musical psyche play off each other. So too "Ticklebelly Hill." The artistic feel and expression has such fluidity there must be a wind god inside it. There's a sway in the defining melody - the fiddle soars through it while the bass ever nimble, shapes a personality. I had to chuckle at "Apples and Oranges," it's like the story of men and women. It starts out all sweet and mellow with the guitar and bass, lets in a pretty little banjo break then here comes the fox on the guitar getting funkier and more determined by the second. Very cool, very sly, not as innocent as it seems. The last number, the Grande Finale is "Dead End." It opens with long sensuous notes. The bass is so good, the fiddle is so fine, the mandolin is so... David is so... everything is so... surprising. This is a dream tune, as in R.E.M. required possible/probably so inspired. The way it works it shouldn't work, it shouldn't make sense but it does; the seemly disparate themes connecting and communicating like they do in dreams, the Jungians would love it. Just remember, it really is 6:02 minutes long. Brilliant.