Short Reviews [Bjorn Riis - 2018 - "Coming Home"]

Norwegian composer and guitarist Bjorn RIIS was until recently mainly known for two things: That he was a member of progressive rock band Airbag, and that he runs the website gilmourish.com, a website celebrating the talents of a certain guitarist. In 2014 Riis launched a solo career as well, which have seen him release two solo albums so far. This year he further expanded his solo output with "Coming Home", a mini album that was released through Norwegian label Karisma Records. What we get here is careful, delicate introspective music, where the vocals and guitars are the main treats for the longer cuts, with sparse acoustic guitar and vocal passages dominating, and with a more majestic section building towards the middle or in the second half of the songs. Emotionally laden creations, where Riis showcase just how effective a less is more approach to the use of guitar is when conveying emotions. Additional treats is an atmospheric creation closer to ambient territories opening this production, a rich, emotional instrumental that concludes the new material here on a melancholic night time mood tangent, which is followed by an alternative version of the title track from his debut album. A strong mini album with brilliant touches. Delicate, brittle and emotional. Fans of Pink Floyd in general and David Gilmour in particular is, perhaps unsurprisingly, what I consider to be the main audience of this album.