Short Reviews [John Orsi - 2012 - "A Room For the Night"]

The US composer and musician John ORSI is arguably best known as a member of bands such as Knitting By Twilight and Incandescent Sky, and is also the principal driving force for the label It's Twilight Time. Besides various band activities he's also found the time to release some music of his own, and "A Room For the Night" from 2012 is his second EP as a solo artist. If you didn't know so already, this is an EP that has drummer solo album written all over it. It's all about rhythms from the onset to the final note, and it's an innovative excursion as such too. Good, old fashioned drumming is a detail Orsi doesn't feel the need to explore on this project, instead it's some sort of celebration of the various rhythms of life itself. Sampled sounds of machines, of tasks in everyday life, people talking and trains are all part of this package. Orsi himself supplies various percussion details, gentle drumming, cymbals, glockenspiel, and utilizes synths, keyboards and electronic effects to bind it all together in a fluent and frequently brilliantly intriguing whole. This isn't a production that will have a wide appeal, I presume, but if you tend to be fascinated by rhythms and percussion beyond the scope of what a regular drummer usually provides this is an EP that should catch your fancy. Especially if you're among those people who tend to notice rhythms and patterns in your everyday life, wondering if these could ever be applied to music.

Olav M Bjornsen: May 8, 2013