Search - Jeff Johnson :: A Thin Silence

The Sound of Silence

Gord Wilson | Bellingham, WA USA | 06/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Jeff Johnson's music has had a variety of inspirations: literary, fantasy, travelogs, Celtic and ancient monks. Nearly everything he does is off the beaten path and he follows his own Muse. The bits on Windham Hill samplers and NPR Echoes nearly always result in listeners calling up and wanting more, saying "Who is this Jeff Johnson and why haven't I heard of him?" Why indeed?



He has an uncanny sense of melody. When I play a new album it always seems I've heard it before. Then I forget where I heard it and search for the source, always finding it's Jeff Johnson. Having heard numerous of both his vocal and intrumental albums, however, I confess that this one still floored me. This is his most minimalist album. Some songs are a few piano notes with only the slightest whisp of instrumental support or the faintest vocal whisper, each note naked in silence.



Like Phillip Glass, Johnson repeats simple themes so that we await each change and hear every variation. Some compositions, like "Angel of the Dawn", are hauntingly beautiful. "Bright Sadness" varies the attack and decay of the notes, adding an odd counterpoint. Comparing this album with one by my other favorite keyboardist, Tom Howard, the first thing that stands out is the naked production style. But this is also unique in Johnson's canon, which often caters to rock and pop sensibilities.



I listened to this album lying in the sun, but you could probably pray or meditate to it, and Johnson calls the ten tracks "instrumental prayers". Some listeners might find the final "chanted Lorica" "Circle Me" out of place, but Johnson probably sees it as the natural ending to this musical sojourn of the prophet Elijah. Johnson has long surveyed the continuum between sleeping, waking and dreaming; here he explores the sounds of silence."