Composer and multi-instrumentalist
Rob Burger has traveled down many paths during his lengthy, productive career, from being a driving force behind the chamber jazz-folk group
Tin Hat Trio to performing on albums by
Iron & Wine,
Tracy Chapman,
Norah Jones,
John Zorn, and countless others. As a solo artist, he's released an album as part of
Tzadik Records' Radical Jewish Culture series, and another for the same label comprising a selection of his music for film scores.
The Grid (released by
Western Vinyl) is a different story altogether, blending the moods of the composer's soundtrack work with ambient electronic textures. While pieces like the opener "Alternate Star" are acoustic ruminations that could easily serve as the accompaniment to a stark, dramatic movie,
Burger flips to an entirely different channel with more upbeat, playful selections like "Harmonious Gathering." Featuring vintage-sounding drum machines and cosmic synths, the piece seems to nod to
Harmonia in both its title and overall feel, yet the jaunty melody and acoustic instrumentation bring to mind
Penguin Cafe Orchestra. "The Grid" revolves around a low-bitrate synth pattern, building a round of mallet percussion and strings, and sprinkling it with electronic stardust. "Roadside Deal" similarly takes the same sort of fuzzy, Casio-like keyboard tones (the likes of which any "serious" composer would surely consider offensive and childish) and attaches pleasantly ethereal electronics and starlit pianos.
Laurie Anderson stops by to add a typically poignant poetic monologue to the gentle pizzicato strings of "Souls of Winter." Following the perky, pointillistic "Talk to Me" and the solemn trudge of "Broward County," the album concludes with "Ghost on a Wire," which sounds just as haunting and weightless as its title. Throughout the album,
Burger seems willing to explore every idea that crosses his mind, yet it all sounds remarkably focused without sounding clinical or over-considered. ~ Paul Simpson
