Tim Brady is an iconoclast even among the small coterie that produces what is called "modern composition" ("classical" music that largely avoids the past). In the last year he was released a solo guitar symphony and has also penned operas and other pieces that focus on electric guitar--one instrument that is almost unheard in this community.

Tim Brady For Electric Guitar (People Places)

By using effects, Brady can make his guitar sound like a synthesizer, an acoustic guitar and even something approaching the brown sound. I suppose many in his community might find the use of electronics and effects somewhat anathema to the idea of a person speaking through an instrument with nothing in-between. By now, I think Brady's effective use of the electric guitar in a myriad of almost unimaginable ways destroys the "artistic" arguments against his instrument of choice.

Brady wrote these pieces for him to play himself. This is his first solo album in more than ten years, but its vast imagination and scope are of a par with his many efforts over the last decade plus. More impressively, these pieces were recorded after Brady's Parkinson's diagnosis in 2023. Maybe he's lost a bit of flexibility (I can't hear it, but y'know, maybe), but he's still out there finding ways to expand time and space.

Definitely in the sweet spot for those who like the wiggier side of solo guitar work ("classical" or not). No matter how you come to this, Brady will shatter your expectations and beliefs of what a guitar can accomplish. Utterly masterful, but intimate enough to allow listeners to get comfortable before the next brainstorm. Getting lost has rarely been so fulfilling.

Jon Worley