Short Reviews [Robert Jurjendal - 2021 - "Water Finds a Way"]

Here Robert has returned with his third solo album, which for the most part is just him and his new custom-built electric guitar which contains a Sustainer pickup to give life for the long-sustained notes. He also uses a guitar synth, and provides some percussion while his wife, Signe, joins him for background vocals plus there are additional themes and improvisations played on cello by Robert’s son Anti Jurjendal. It is an album of dreams, of meandering music which is relaxing and takes the listener on a journey as they gently float down the stream. There is little in the way of rapids, much more like a luxurious lazy river with much to see on the way. There are a few vocals here and there, but they tend to be low in the mix and are generally used as another instrument. Not too many guitarists use guitar synths these days, with Allan Holdsworth being one of the real innovators, and here Robert mixes the sounds from it with the guitar itself so that one cannot hear the join. It is music which has bene highly curated and adjusted, and one can tell that he is yet another luminary from Robert Fripp’s Crafty Guitar School (and he must have impressed the teacher as he became a member of Toyah Wilcox’s band). This is music for late at night, in the dark and played on headphones, and while never truly essential is nonetheless an interesting interlude.