Guido Meyer "Towards the Blue Horizon" (Solarise Records, 2004)
It's always great to hear an album which is done in a sincere way, with lots of feeling put into compositions, album which is simple on the surface but reveals great beauty and perfection within that can only be felt when listening to it and can't be described in a review like this one. Guido Meyer's "Towards the Blue Horizon" is exactly this kind of album, which, apart from the great music, comes with a beautiful inner sleeve artwork that fits the concept and music perfectly. So, ok, it's a special album in many ways, so here I decided to part with my habit of describing each track separately, trying to concentrate on the feeling and essence of the whole album. Whereas "Episodes 1" was exclusively based on synths, here we have electric guitar, and a lot of it! In fact, this album can be classified as guitar-fronted EM, while for many of the tracks the term "guitar instrumental" is even more suitable. Ok, the basis for most of the tracks is still synths, and they are delivered with real taste. Featuring restrained, masterful programming, this album has something that just conquered my soul and that is... digital synthesizers! Strange? Yeah, for an analog-biased guy like me it could sound odd, but really, Guido used these tools to create simply perfect atmosphere - cool (not cold), detached and at the same time extremely warm and comfortable. He has created some great sounds, avoiding the well-known presets and overall the synth production is so smooth and enjoyable that I can only put my hat off to Guido, his talent is quite obvious and I can hear sincerety and depth in every second of this albums' length. The guitar is played immaculately as well, mostly coming in the form of distant-sounding solos, done with real feeling. There is a certain 80's flair in Guido's guitar timbre (very cold sound if you know what I mean), I can't even compare his style to other artists, it's quite personal, but perhaps Edgar Froese sometimes came a bit close during the 80's. But really, from listening to some of Guido's solos, I'd say that the young Guido could easily teach the old Edgar a few lessons on the guitar. Yes, he is THAT good, he has proved to be a first-class improvisation artist. Melodies? They will play in your head and touch your soul from the first time you hear this album. "Towards the Blue Horizon" gave me 45 minutes of pure listening pleasure. To say that I enjoyed it would be a huge understatement. Every track here is a winner, with the awesome title track leading the way. This album is a piece of art, period.
Artemi Pugachov (St.Petersburg) Encyclopedia of Electronic Music