High Lines

Best known, if at all, as director 's most frequent musical collaborator (no, not , , or ), Louisiana-born violinist/composer has not been much of a presence on recordings. Indeed follows his previous album, , by a good 23 years -- and from the evidence here, you can infer without any derogatory inplications why he has stayed away from the spotlight all that time. 's forte is incidental music, background scores that mainly support other artistic idioms, often content to set just a single mood -- in other words, made to order for a production but not necessarily for a self-contained album. The CD unfolds like a album, a series of mostly brief cues with a minimalist ethic underpinning the repetitions. At times, the album resembles a , but is not as predictable as , freely roaming around various world cultures for inspiration, varying his bowing techniques to suit the mood, enlisting the versatile help of guitarist , percussionist , and bassist . The CD opens with a stunning mood piece, with percussive noises resembling rushing water. contributes deliciously noisy distorted guitar to and ; the latter gets a funky berimbau beat going over a walking bass. is the tail end of a much-longer work for solo violin, a simplified nod to one of 's original influences, . It's hard to predict how these mostly slight compositions will stand up to repeated listening, but they are beautifully recorded in the best fashion. ~ Richard S. Ginell