There is no doubt that Pierre Bensusan is one of the most
\ntalented guitarists alive today. In an age where kids worship a
\nsix-string axeman who can play ten thousand notes a second,
\nBensusan takes a more melodic approach to his playing. Can he play
\nfast? Sure… but he makes each note count for something.<\/p>\n
Yet there is something slightly unsatisfying about
\nIntuite<\/i>, his latest disc (and first entirely solo acoustic
\nrelease). Maybe it’s because I first became familiar with
\nBensusan’s guitar work as part of a collective of Celtic
\nfingerstyle guitarists, and I expect almost anything he does to be
\nin that vein. Yet even when he deviates into more modern styles of
\ncomposition, he still shows he’s one of the best out there in his
\ngenre.<\/p>\n
It was hard for me to get past the muted tones on the strings in
\nthe opening of “Kadourimdou,” the first track on
\nIntuite<\/i>. While Bensusan does move into fancy fingerwork,
\nthis particular effort almost feels like he’s trying a little too
\nhard to break out of a traditional sound and into one occupied by
\nartists like David Pritchard, Doug Smith, Leo Kottke and, to an
\nextent, Earl Klugh. (There are moments on
\nIntuite<\/i> that remind me of Klugh’s
\nSolo Guitar<\/i> effort.) Still others, such as the title track,
\nI’m still not positive just what Bensusan was trying to accomplish
\nwith the music, but it doesn’t quite click for me like many of his
\nother works have. “Intuite” almost sounds Oriental at times, as if
\nBensusan was trying to capture the power of Japanese music in his
\nown unique style.<\/p>\n
But Bensusan does not abandon a more traditional tone
\ncompletely; tracks like “The Welsh Arrow” and the absolutely
\nbeautiful track “L’alchimiste” are so overpowering that the
\nlistener may feel like they’re being transferred to another time in
\nsome far away land. And there are other tracks, such as “So Long
\nMichael,” which one can only imagine the emotion behind. (The track
\nis dedicated to Michael Hedges, who was tragically killed in a car
\naccident in 1997.)<\/p>\n
Despite some of my misgivings,
\nIntuite<\/i> has some brilliant moments on it. “Bourr\u00e9e
\nVoltige” is lovely beyond words, showing the listener just how
\npowerful the acoustic guitar can be. Likewise, “En Route From
\nScarborough” (which works in some moments from the traditional
\nsong) puts a new twist on a familiar piece of music and presents it
\nin a way that no one could have ever dreamed of beforehand.<\/p>\n
Sure, there are moments on
\nIntuite<\/i> when one has to wonder just what Bensusan is trying
\nto accomplish, and whether he met his unspoken goals. But for each
\nof these moments, there are several others which offer much more
\ninsight into the musical mind of the six-string genius.
\nIntiute<\/i> is a challenging listen at times, but it’s a
\nchallenge well worth taking.<\/p>\n
2001 Christopher Thelen and “The Daily Vault”. All rights
\nreserved. Review or any portion may not be reproduced without
\nwritten permission. Cover art is the intellectual property of
\nFavored Nations Entertainment, and is used for informational
\npurposes only.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6114],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-37191","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-pierre-bensusan","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37191"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37191"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}