Album Review: Chilly Gonzales, Solo Piano II

Published on 26/08/2012 00:00

Gonzales released his first album of piano thrills and spills in 2004, and after eight subsequent years subverting the forms of hip-hop – he claimed that his last album The Unspeakable… was the world’s first orchestral rap record – he has now returned to the simplicity of the original form.

Gentle Threat, £11.99

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With an acute sense of melody, and a continuing flirtation with the work of Erik Satie (falling short of that first album’s obsession), this is a beautiful interlude for hectic lives. The Canadian’s formal dexterity can verge on the dry – Wintermezzo is upmarket shopping mall muzak – but the likes of Evolving Doors and White Keys are sensitive and subdued thrill rides.

His playful side is constantly nudging to the fore, digging the ribs of classical conformity with Othello’s catchy refrain, and wedging 
musical tongue in cheek with Papa Gavotte. There are glimpses of technology deployed in his modern repertoire, like flashes through a curtain, but for the most part this is straight-faced and strait-laced. A fondness for jazz always bubbles under the surface, but the predominant flavour is of the classic 1940s film soundtrack, forever caught between the talkies and the silent era. Gonzales performs this and other works at Edinburgh’s 
Queen’s Hall as part of the Fringe tonight, and that is where to go if you would like to hear his patter. They say his timing is equally impressive.

Colin Somerville

Download this: Othello, Epigram In E, White Keys