Addison Project - "Mood Swings"
(Unicorn Records 2003, UNCR-5008)
Addison Project - "Mood Swings"
(Unicorn Records 2003, UNCR-5008)
Uploaded to Aural Innovations: January 2004
This is a solo-with-friends project from Richard Addison (bass). Richard is from Montreal, Canada, and played in the prog band Mystery and the jazz/rock band Sojourn. He has also played on a number of studio sessions. On ‘Mood Swings’ Richard is joined by Stéphane Crytes (acoustic drums), David Gauthier (guitar), Michel St-Père (guitar), Éric St-Laurent (guitar), Luc Aubry (keys), Dany Roy (tenor sax), Philippe Lauzier (alto sax), Robin Boulianne (violin), Mario Di Blasio (electronic drums), Pierre Nadeau (piano).
The music on ‘mood swings’ is in a jazz-with-prog-leanings vein. It’s all instrumental and moves along quite nicely. It has a bit of a dark flavor due mostly to the subtle use of whole-tone scales throughout. It also has a kind of jittery feel because of the multiple tempo changes (lots of them everywhere).
The playing is really good and I’ve always liked my prog mixed with a bit of jazz. The song construction tends towards the intricate, so it stays interesting throughout. I particularly liked that Richard tends to stay in the background (where the bass belongs) and gives the songs an interesting bottom, rather than yet another solo player. Also notable is the clean production. It just sounds sweet both in my house and in my car.
For more information you can visit the Unicorn Records web site at: http://www.unicornrecords.com.
Contact via snail mail c/o Unicorn Records; PO Box 95016; Lorraine; Quebec; J6Z 4P1; Canada.
Reviewed by Louis Hesselt-van-Dinter