Michał Milczarek Trio – Squirrels And Butterflies (2014)

Michał Milczarek Trio

Michał Milczarek - guitar
Bartosz Łuczkiewicz - bass
Mateusz Modrzejewski - drums

Squirrels And Butterflies

PRIVATE EDITION




By Adam Baruch

This is the debut album by the Polish Jazz-Rock Fusion trio led by guitarist/composer Michał Milczarek, with bassist Bartek Łuczkiewicz and drummer Mateusz Modrzejewski. The album presents ten original compositions, nine by Milczarek and one by Łuczkiewicz.

The music is typical contemporary Jazz-Rock Fusion, with catchy riffs and somewhat unusual sound, which uses ambient effects in addition to the guitar power-trio format. The compositions are pretty basic, but serve the purpose as vehicles for the lengthy improvisations. The performances are solid, and within the Fusion idiom suit the music well. The overall sound of the album and the flow of the music are a bit repetitive, but there are enough interesting moments here to keep the listener attentive.

Overall this is a promising debut album, which offers some fresh approach to guitar based Fusion, but does not manage to deliver anything truly innovative. However, Fusion fans should find this album very interesting, especially due to the ambient associations and excellent guitar and bass parts. Recommended! The trio's second album entitled "Ambient Works", which left the Fusion direction and concentrated on Ambient Music, turned out to be a disappointment for me.